Wednesday 10 October 2012

Shakespeare

Name: William Shakespeare
D.O.B: 26th April 1564 (baptised)
Death: 23rd April 1616
Shakespeare's grave.
Good frend for Iesvs sake forbeare,
To digg the dvst encloased heare.
Bleste be ye man yt spares thes stones,
And cvrst be he yt moves my bones.

(Modern spelling: Good friend, for Jesus' sake forbear, | To dig the dust enclosed here. | Blessed be the man that spares these stones, | And cursed be he that moves my bones.)



His Life:
Shakespeare was born and brought up in Stratford-upon-Avon. At the age of 18, he married Anne Hathaway. Their three children were named Susanna, and twins Hamnet and Judith.

His Career:
Between 1585 and 1592, he began a successful career in London as an actor, writer, and part owner of a playing company called the Lord Chamberlain's Men, later known as the King's Men. He retired and lived Stratford around 1613 at age 49, where he died three years later.

His Plays:
Shakespeare produced most of his work between 1589 and 1613. His early plays were mainly comedies and histories, genres he raised to the peak of cleverness and skill by the end of the 16th century. He then wrote mostly about tragedies until about 1608, including Hamlet, King Lear, Othello, and Macbeth, considered some of the finest works in the English language. In his last phase, he wrote tragicomedies, also known as romances, and collaborated with other playwrights. Many people thought Shakespeare was the greatest playwright who has ever lived.



John Shakespeare's (William Shakespeare’s father) house, believed to be Shakespeare's birthplace in Stratford-upon-Avon.

References:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shakespeare
Millenium Family Encyclopedia, Dorling Kindersley (London).

Monday 17 September 2012

Reading

I’ve been reading Creep from The Deep which is from the Goosebumps Horrorland series written by the master of fright R.L. Stine. Creep from The Deep is a new and terrifying updated version of a previous Stine book called Deep Trouble. This book is about a teenager named Billy who likes to pretend being a hero with his wacky, unrealistic imagination, and his little sister named Sheena who is brave, fearless and more mature than Billy.

They both set out on a treasure hunting adventure with their uncle (Dr. Deep) on his hi-tech submarine. What they didn’t suspect to happen is that their treasure hunting leads the submarine to break down on the ocean floor, and a two-hundred year-old sea captain who refuses to stay dead as he torments them. This is a very good book for people who want a spooky scare or a just for fun read.

Tuesday 4 September 2012

My Poem

The shady rectangular shape which lurks in my living room
The lifeless vivacious object will turn on soon
The extravagant item was bought from an electric store
Watch movies, videos and so much more
All the comedy, horror, sci-fi, romance and thriller
All the late night snacks you'll get from the chiller
Remote users watch with your vision
Guess it yet? a television

Tuesday 28 August 2012

Most inspiring teacher

The teacher I would put in for the most inspiring teacher would be my social studies teacher Mrs Cottee. Mrs Cottee is fun, great, awesome, bizarrely peaceful, respectful, polite, and funnily sarcastic. As well as being strict, fair, and reasonably unreasonable sometimes. Despite all this she teaches my class and I at our pace not hers, she helps us with anything that she can help us with, and stays calm in any situation she is put in.

Thursday 9 August 2012

My Olympic Sport idea

A sport that I think should be played in the Olympics is paintball. My reasons for this sport to be in the Olympics are that, first it is same as shooting but it can be targeted at someone. That it’s very physical and tactical as it can be played differently. That is why it should be played in the Olympics.

Firstly the type of gun which was used in my experiences in paintball looks realistically modern. It holds more than thirty paint-balls in the gun. Which when fired explodes paint in contact with an object or someone. You need a very good eye sight and excellent accuracy while playing this sport as people do play this game professionally.

In paintball you could either verse another team, play one on one, play capture the flag, etc. But commonly the object of the game is to shoot someone somewhere on their body, when hit they are out of the game. So paintball is all about shooting your opponent out, which in Olympics would be countries shooting other countries out. This sport is all about being focused, having good stamina, endure hits from paint-balls, have great vision in shooting and most importantly having fun!

Therefore I think paintball should be a sport that is played in the Olympics as its; similar to firing a real gun but you actually fire it at someone, very physical and tactical. This game is played globally and is a very common hobby.

Tuesday 31 July 2012

Olympics moment

The Olympic flame is a symbol of the spirit of brotherhood among all people. Every four years, a few months before the Games, a fire is lit near the ruins of an ancient temple in Olympia, Greece, using the sun and a mirror. A torch is ignited from this fire, and then a team of athletes from many different countries relay the flame to the place where the Olympics will take place that year. The athletes who carry the flame are called torchbearers. The flame can be transported by bicycle, car, train, boat, or plane. Otherwise, it is passed from hand to hand by runners on foot every kilometre until it reaches the Olympic stadium in the host city. There it is used to light the cauldron that will burn for the duration of the Games. It is a great honour to be the final torchbearer, who is usually a citizen of the host country.

Monday 11 June 2012

Collaborative story

As I walked to my car I see my dad wheeling my luggage into the trunk, it looked like he was struggling with it. I gazed at my house as I said my farewells. I hopped into the front seat of the car when I see Mr Jenkins waving at me from inside his house. During the car ride I felt nervous and excited about the trip and the journey I’m going to go through. But the fact that my mum died mysteriously brought me down. The car ride lasts twenty minutes as I yawn looking up at the evening cloudy sky. I look in the distance at the airport. I got out of the car and hugged my dad when I suddenly remembered Fifi. I told my dad to take good care of her as he handed me my luggage. It started to rain as I saw my dad drive into the distance. I walked up to the reception as I wheeled my heavy luggage behind me. I got my ticket and headed to the security check. A guard picks up my bag and lays it on the conveyer belt. The conveyer belt speedily scanned my bag, another guard was behind a computer which scans luggage when they go on the conveyer belt. The guard yelled “stop right there missy!” I was in such a shock that I took a few steps backwards. The guard opened my bag and found a cheerful Chihuahua. “Fifi!?” I said in an excited, frustrated tone. “Sorry but the law clearly states that no living organisms can aboard a plane, only if you pay for them”. I sighed and then thought guess its hello to Mr. Jenkins again. But I couldn’t give up so I paid for Fifi, which costs a lot, then boarded the plane. A restful night later I chucked my running shoes on and watched the heat waves in the distance. After a tiresome run later, I came third in the 2012 Marathon de Paris and scored a bronze medal. I see a familiar face in the crazy, applauding crowd. Is that my mum!?

Saturday 26 May 2012

3 Day episode - uTunes: recreating music videos

Day 1: Learn about the history of music over the decades. Then in groups research your favourite artist and their video style.

Day 2: Choose a music video your group likes and start planning and starting on making another version of it, or make a parody of it.

Day 3: Continue making and editing the videos. Last half of the day is dedicated to the presentation of the videos by the groups.

COST = $0.00
Independent learning qualities students will develop =
Curious: Finding more information about music videos and their history.
Creative: Creating your own music video.
Enterprising: Developing new ideas on music videos.

Wednesday 23 May 2012

New Zombland (Updated version) - BNZ writing competition

New Zombland – Rajneel Prasad

As the sun begins to rise throughout Auckland, the morning brings a cold breeze. The silhouette of the Sky Tower casts a huge shadow over the city. Inside a two storey house, Jack Hallo is sitting at a table. Jack is an only child. Jack is an ordinary 14-year old school-boy, with scruffy jet black hair, wearing blue jeans and a loose fitting t-shirt. He was quietly having breakfast while watching the news. “Welcome back, lets recap an incident that happened two weeks ago that changed lives in our beautiful country, Aotearoa”. Jack had seen this story so many times in the past two weeks, the same scenes stuck on repeat. “The whole of New Zealand should obviously know this, doctors were trialling a new flu shot on a volunteer. After taking the drug he lost all consciousness and by the time he got to central hospital, he was pronounced dead. The security footage shows two specialists at a morgue examining his body when all of sudden he sprung up and infected them by biting repeatedly. The chemicals used for the flu shot were immediately destroyed following the incident…”

Jack smiled at the thought of not going to school but as he was isolated in his own home he didn’t even smirk. His friends weren’t allowed in his house as he wasn’t about to invite zombies to feast on him or his parents. Every Monday Jack’s parents Edward and Rose always went down to the supermarket to stock up. As usual they would first collect weapons such as a baseball bat, frying pan or a huge machete. Jack was washing the dishes as he glanced out the window looking at his mum hurling a machete into the back seat of their car in preparation, while his dad was keeping guard up the road. But what his dad didn’t notice under the thorn bush was a drooling blood-shot eyed cannibal lurking. Jack knew the only way to kill a zombie was to slit its throat. Even the thought of it was sickening. So he grabbed an old frying pan and ran as fast as his legs could carry him to the front door. The zombie had made a bizarre growling noise as Jack opened the front door. His dad was in shock of the sudden noise behind him. His reaction was an upper-cut, but rather than hurting the zombie, his hand literally went through flesh. Jack ran at him like an angry bull running at a matador. Smack! The frying pan hit the zombie with so much impact it fell, losing consciousness, but his head was still attached to its neck! Jack looked down to see his father on the ground shaking crazily like a kid who has drunk too much ‘fizz’. Then Jack realised what had happened when he saw bite marks on his father’s arm.

Jack’s mum yelled out to run. They both ran as fast as they could with growling noises following them. His mum tripped on her skirt and fell to the ground with a ‘thud’. “Run Jack! Save yourself!”. Jack hesitated as he saw his mum ten metres away from him. Behind his mum was his zombie dad, pale-skinned and lifeless. His dad let out a strange noise, then ran at his mother. Mrs. Hallo started to cry and yelled “Hurry, go and lock every lock in the house!” As he ran to the door, he looked back at what seemed like his zombified father biting his mother. She cried out in pain. Jack quickly locked the front door. He started crying, suddenly remembering that the garage door was open. Running across the living room to close the door, he heard the growling noise as he got there. It was dark even though it was daytime and the automatic door was rolled up. Pressing the button which closed the door, he was safe for a moment until he saw a face in the darkness. But it was only an old Halloween costume, at least that’s what he thought it was. Jack’s zombie mom howled out a piercing scream as Jack tried running inside the house but zombie dad was blocking the entrance. He could press the button for the automatic door, but it was beside his dad. Jack tried to think of a way to get out as he saw a large stone. He did have a chance of hitting that button and he quickly picked it up and threw the stone with all his might and accuracy. Jack missed the button as the stone went straight into zombie dad’s eye which blinded him for a few seconds giving Jack the chance to run inside the house and close the door.

He was relieved, but only for a few minutes to think of a way to get out of the house when suddenly he remembered the downstairs cupboard which can be locked from the inside and had spare food stored in there so he entered the cupboard and had a feed to get some strength and make up a escape plan without any interference from his zombie parents. Suddenly he heard a buzzing noise and remembered that there were tools in the garage. Before all this havoc started Jack’s dad was a builder. That noise must be a chainsaw he thought, he got all the food that he could carry and then remembered his neighbour. Jack climbed out a window carrying a bottle of cola, chips, some mints and fruit in a bag as he found a ladder that was leaning against Jack’s neighbour’s fence that his dad used for his job. After climbing it he saw figures sprinting at him. His zombie parents were hungry for flesh. Jack climbed over to his neighbour’s lawn as he put a mint inside the bottle of cola, shook it and sprayed it into his zombie parents’ eyes. He turned around and heard a young woman scream as she had picked up a shotgun and pointed it right at Jack’s forehead. “Who are you and what do you want!?” she quizzed, “My name is Jack. My parents were turned into zombified freaks” he replied in a frightened tone. She lowered her gun and shook her head “I know how you must feel”. “Can I trust you?” she asked, “Yes you can, what are you doing anyway?” Jack asked puzzled. “I’m on my way to the airport, would you like to come with me or just stay here and become dessert?”, “I guess I don’t have a choice” Jack said as he saw her throwing guns in her car. “Which gun should I use?” Jack spoke in excitement, “Um…how about a BB gun?” she said as she laughed and slapped Jack on his back. “You’re way too young to use guns”. “I have used a gun before!” Jack said angrily. “Xbox doesn’t count” she said in amusement.

Jack went inside the car as she was carrying pistols on her belt while she threw sniper rifles in the trunk of her car. Jack was only armed with mace and a steel pipe given by the hurried woman. “Do you know how to drive?” Jack asked her, she looked at Jack sheepishly “Buckle up little boy” as she started the ignition. She started talking about her life before the virus. Her name was Jennifer and she studying to be a doctor and has a black belt in karate. In the distance they saw zombies running at the car, “That doesn’t look good” Jack said in a terrified tone. “Hey Jack take the wheel”, “What? I can’t even drive” he replied. “Try!”. She picked up a shotgun from the backseat, put the top half of her body out the window and shot. Jack kept the steering wheel as straight as he could. “BANG, BANG!!” Jennifer knocked down the zombies one by one as they drove rigidly. She got back into the car and took over from driving “You’re not a bad driver”.

After about 26 minutes Jennifer stopped at a gas station, “Jack why don’t you go in the shop and get some food”. “You mean unarmed?” Jack hesitated, “You have the mace bottle don’t you?” Jennifer added. Jack walked inside leisurely only armed with a pathetic bottle of mace. He grabbed a few things and heard an odd sound. A zombie crawled towards him. Jack went into panic mode spraying the zombie with mace as he ran out. Jennifer was already in the car fixing her hair, Jack hopped in and yelled out “Go, Drive!”. “What the hell did you do in there?” asked Jennifer “Well I was getting food for you, your majesty” Jack replied sarcastically. A lot of zombies were living at the airport so Jennifer gave Jack a pistol “Use it only to save your life or someone else’s”. “Wait, the only someone else is you isn’t it?” Jack asked Jennifer mysteriously, “Well I only came to the airport because my uncle is a professional pilot. He flew from Christchurch because he was the only survivor there. He’s secure in the airport along with other people”. “How many?” Jack asked in shock, “About 50” Jennifer replied. She put two pistols in her belt and was holding a large assault rifle. After another 15 minute drive they arrived at the airport.

They jumped out of the car as zombies started to sprint at them. “Jack stay behind. Don’t get bitten by one of these freaks”. Jennifer high-kicked a zombie in the face and threw a stun grenade and paralyzed a couple of zombies. Two zombies were coming from either end as she jumped up in the air and kicked both zombies with both legs. “Karate is very helpful right?” she asked Jack while she was fighting. “BANG, BANG, and BANG” the last few zombies were shot down. “Nice one Jennifer!”. “That wasn’t me” she said in a puzzled voice. Out in the distance a man appeared. “Uncle!” Jennifer yelled in surprise, “no one harms my favourite niece” said Jennifer’s Uncle. Jennifer introduced Uncle Mark to Jack. They walked towards the front entrance of the airport, it was guarded by five men, they let the three of them in. “Okay we’re ready to fly to Sydney” said Mark in a deep voice. “Where’s the boarding zone?” Jennifer asked her Uncle, “Its five floors up, we’ll take the lift first and for the rest of the survivors”. They walked inside the elevator and waited till it reached the top floor in awkward silence with elevator music playing in the background. The elevator suddenly stopped at the floor below the boarding zone. The automatic doors opened, “Hey, Jack stay behind my uncle or me till the coast is clear”. But it wasn’t as dozens of zombies crawled to them. Jennifer reloaded her assault rifle and Mark was aiming with an AK47, while Jack was still holding a steel pipe. All you could hear were gunshots and howling. The elevator door swung open as they saw the survivors in a zombified form. Mark yelled out to run as they all ran to the stairs dodging chairs and benches on the way to the other side of the room while shooting madly. Mark closed the steel door as zombie hands tried reaching in, “Seems like it was only yesterday as my parents turned into flesh-eating cannibals” said Jack, “ It was actually today but you’re going to start a new unzombified life in Sydney Jack, keep your hopes up” said Jennifer. They all boarded the plane with Jack and Jennifer in the front seats of the plane, Uncle Mark was sitting in the pilot’s chair. “Get ready for lift off” Mark spoke into the pilot’s microphone as he saw zombies holding onto the airplane’s tyres. It took around 10 minutes to take off from the ground. They started to cheer, as Jack heard a familiar growling noise getting louder in the back most part of the plane.

Thursday 19 April 2012

Prezi presentation on my Sydney trip.

This is the link for my prezi presentation on my recent vacation to Sydney. I did a simple prezi presentation as it was my first time using it and also I couldn't add most of my pictures, but these can be seen in my photo essay.

Tuesday 3 April 2012

My Term 1 reflection

This term being a year 10 was different. I didn't have the same bunch of people in all my classes. Doing homework on the internet was interesting than doing it from a worksheet. Whanau Sports day was very energetically fun, as I came first in some events such as the road run. The options I have picked are great, in graphics my class is learning how to be pro drawers and woodwork we're designing and constructing our own storage devices. This term I have learnt about many things I didn't know already. In Social Studies I learnt about ancient Rome and ancient Easter Island. In Science I learnt about DNA, fingerprints, blood splatter and now I’m doing my own science project. P.E was enjoyable, my class were playing sports such as touch, ripper rugby and other great activities. In Maths I’m learning about volumes and areas of shapes (all those sorts of numerical equations) which was challenging for me. This term’s topic was connecting. I think I’ve connected with a lot of the students and teachers in and out of my classes.

Tuesday 20 March 2012

My book review: Eagle Strike by Anthony Horowitz

I’ve done my book review on ‘Eagle Strike’ by Anthony Horowitz. It isn’t the first in its series, but saying that this is a good book to read. This book is about a young fourteen years old boy called Alex Rider, he is an agent of the company MI6. This book starts off with Alex on a holiday with his friend Sabina and her parents in the South of France, while Alex lies on the beach he sees in the distance a yacht called ‘Fer De Lance’ (poisonous snake). His enemy Yassen Gregorovich came out of the yacht. He assassinated Alex’s uncle, his uncle named Ian Rider was also a spy. Alex wanted to find out why he was here? His curiousness got into a little trouble in the yacht as he got kidnapped. Yassen gave Alex two choices, first choice was he dies instantly with a hand-gun or plays a very dangerous French sport (bullfighting).


Being a secret agent and all, Alex won the bullfight. He was walking back to the house he was living in with his friend Sabina and her parents. But when he got there it was all a wreck. Someone has bombed their house! Alex thought he was the target but it actually Sabina’s dad. Alex was sure it was the famous pop singer Damian Cray who is more than happy to give some of his money to charity. He was sure with his phone number on Yassen’s phone and the fact that Sabina’s dad was writing an article about Cray’s life and carrier. The police wouldn’t believe Alex (coming from a fourteen year old boy). He had to get more information, Cray made a game console ‘GAME SLAYER’ with the first game called ‘Feathered Serpent’. Yassen’s yacht was called Fer De Lance (Poisonous snake) and the game was called ‘Feathered Serpent’.


He had been volunteered to play the virtual game which made an avatar of him on the game.  He has seen signs that Cray is not the man he pretends to be and soon enough Alex finds out that the pop icon is in fact a very evil man who has conceived a plan which will end up killing millions of people. Anthony Horowitz’ book series about dangerous adventures about Alex is very awesome with crazy plots and exciting chapters. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys reading suspense adventures.

Tuesday 13 March 2012

Martin Luther King Jr




   Martin Luther king Jr was born in Atlanta, Georgia in Southern USA, on 15th January 1929. King's father was a prominent baptist minister, inspiring his son to follow him into the church to study theology. In 1961 black and white civil rights protesters defined state segregation laws by travelling together on segregated buses. The government sent in national guardsmen to protect the riders. This led to increased racial tension and activity ny the racist Ku Klux Klan, who carried flaming crosses in marches in southern USA.

    King went to jail many times for his beliefs. During a period in jail in Birmingham, Alabama, in spring 1963, he wrote an eloquent letter outlining his philosophy of non-voilent protests. On 28th of August 1963, King led the historic march on Washington to demand civil rights reform. More than 200,000 marches heard his words: "I have a dream that one day this nation will rise-up and live out the true meaning of it's creed: we hold the truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal".

    The last years of King's life were marked by increasing disputes with more radical black leaders who disagreed with his non-violence approach. In April 1968, he visted Memphis, Tennessee to offer support to striking city sanitation workers; he was assassinated at the motel where he was staying on 4th of April. Protest riots broke out in most major US cities.

References:
Millenium Family Enyclopedia-By:Dorling Kindersley limited 1997  


Monday 27 February 2012

How to make an origami frog


I’ve chosen to do an origami frog because it is something fun, interesting and new to do for me. I’ve found out how to make it with the following origami website. The instructions are easy to follow and it turns out great. Try making one for yourself! Also I taught my sister how to make it and played around with our camera to take the pictures for this with the best lighting and angles possible. I followed the instructions closely as it was quite easy to understand and it turned out similar to the example shown on the website.

Start with a square piece of paper

Fold corner to corner and top to bottom


Pick one side of the corner and fold it to the corner next to it
Do the same to the other side
Crease paper

Next insert your finger in one of the pockets
Move the pocket around to the front, then flatten and crease it

Perform this move on three pockets…until the paper is in a diamond shape.
Next fold and unfold the corners as shown, to make crease marks
Next fold the paper inwards to make a petal shape
Perform the petal shape fold three more times on the other three faces
Fold the frog base down the centreline
Then fold the lower edges of one layer into the centreline
Now use reverse folds to stretch the back legs
Fold the legs like this

And arms like this
Now you’ll need to blow where the frog’s bottom is, to inflate it.
You can make the frog jump a short distance

Tuesday 21 February 2012

The Zorgs are coming


Character: Alien from Outer Space                                                                                    
Setting: At a swimming pool                                                                                                   
Time: After a big meal                  
Situation: Secret needs to be confessed to someone

The Zorgs are coming

The Zorg civilization is an ancient group of aliens who live in a gigantic space ship in outer space. There is only thing that keeps a Zorg alive, as strange as it sounds it is water. In the central part of the ship the Zorgs are getting ready for a big feast. The Zorg who’s organizing the feast is the head chef, his name is Zap Zanagin. Zap is a brilliant chef, with a lot of genius dishes, like toothpaste, sawdust and copper. Zap slowly slithers along the floor, knowing that his ten tentacles, his giant head and small greenish arms can’t make him go faster.

Finally he arrives at the kitchen and he starts to make one of his famous dishes. But he sees that the water supply is low. He hits an oversized red dusty button next to the water supply, next thing you know an alarm goes off with a horrendous sound. Every Zorg on the ship starts to yell and flap their tentacles slapping each other everywhere. Zap slithers over to the leader of the clan. She is described as a gorgon, with feet smelling horrid. She has made a snappy decision already. Unfortunately all the alien men are fighting in a war, just to see who gets one mile of space. So she orders Zap to go to a random planet in search for water. Zap’s alien face said everything; he was frustrated, angry and furious.

He knows that Earth is the closest planet which consists of water. He ventures out into the space wilderness with a ten metre by ten metre flying saucer. He finally finds Earth and also a water source (a swimming pool). He lands on the roof of the changing rooms; he pushes a button on his suit which changes him into a human boy. He jumps off the roof and stares at the water filled pool. There are too many humans there he thought, all of a sudden there was a strange feeling in Zap’s stomach, was it gas? Next thing you know Zap burps, a nasty diabolical, dreadful smell came out of his mouth. One by one the humans become paralysed; one by one they fall to the ground. Now it’s Zap’s chance, he dashes quickly like a cheetah with his new human legs to his saucer. From his flying saucer an enormous straw extends and starts to suck the water out of the swimming pool.

 Out of the changing rooms comes the lifeguard, who works there. He sees everyone unconscious and then he leisurely looks up to the horizon. The lifeguard runs up at Zap and grabs him. He says to Zap “What are you?”, Zap replies in confession “I’m an alien sent here to destroy everyone!” Zap laughs at his joke and then hooks the lifeguard on his over shocked face. That punch sent him to the ground with a “THUD!” Zap collects the rest of the water and heads back into space. He has saved the Zorg civilization and goes back to be a chef (or that’s what the others thought).                     

Sunday 12 February 2012

My holidays

After a long, tough year my family and I wanted some fun. So we went to Rainbow's End, the only theme park in New Zealand. We had endless, senseless fun going on various great rides such as the rollercoaster, scorpion carts and the new ride - The Invader.

Christmas was great too as I had lots of fun with the presents I got, in particular the Xbox 360. My family and I also hosted a New Year's eve party with our relatives and friends.