The Pepsi Generation

Today in class we were moving up in the advertising world to videos. Each person would pick out a video advertisement they liked and other students would watch it. This blog post is about Faqeera's video, The Pepsi Generation.

The purpose of The Pepsi Generation was a simple one. It was to convince people to drink pepsi. It wasn't convincing just any people. This advertisement was targeted at children drinking pepsi and not drinking pepsi. This advertisement I think was effective because it had Michael Jackson dance in it. If people see a celebrity doing something they develop more longing to be the same as them, especially if it's an easy thing to do, and drinking a drink is one of the most simple and easy things to do. The director of this advertisement obviously knew all of this and called in the biggest star of the 80's, when this was filmed.

Ask any question VS You can lie

If I had to choose between getting an honest answer to any question I ask, or being able to lie, I would choose ask any question. In Jonas's world I'm not allow to ask any questions that draw attention to something different. I'm a very curious boy and not being allowed to ask questions would tear me apart, even if it is really basic like "Hey Daniel, How are you sick?" In our world his answer would be fever but in Jonas's world I would get pulled aside for bringing attention to something that is different.

2012 Drawing Closer

Has it occurred to anybody the amount of earthquakes are increasing and they’re increasing it strength to? I say it all happens as we draw closer to 2012. Earthquakes really have been increasing in strength though. Just look at the ones in 2010!!

1. 7.0 in Haiti on January 12, 2010

2. 8.8 in Chile on February 27, 2010

3. 7.2 in Mexico on April 4, 2010

4. 6.9 in Tibet on April 13, 2010

5. 7.4 in Aceh on May 9, 2010

Now 2012 might not be the end of the world. Something might just happen like earth will slightly increase in the speed it rotates. The Mayans probably didn’t just decide that they would just say the world would end on December 21 2012. They had to have had some logic behind it. Other wise I could run around screaming, “The world will end tomorrow because my toaster is jammed!!!” and everybody would believe me and I don’t think that the human race is THAT stupid.

Jonas View in 5 Sentences

What's going on? They say I'm to be the next receiver of memories. I don't even know what that is? They say I've got what it takes but I'm still confused and unsure. At least I got an assignment, I am a bit relieved.

Mizuno Wave Shock Advertisement: Absorption

This is an advertisement made by a company called Mizuno Wave Shock. Mizuno Wave Shock is obviously a company that makes shoes and this is an advertisement for one of their sneakers. The advertisement shows the sneaker in between the vertebra. This is called symbolism and in this advertisement the symbolism implies that if you wear the sneaker your body bounces and

You will have less aches and pains. It says that this is the shoe you need if you're a runner. In the advertisement also has the element of Lighting and Color. The background is black so you focus in on the spine and Mizuno Wave Shock probably made sure that nothing else had to much color in it except the sneaker in which there are a variety of colors. Something else I noticed was that this picture is very unique and I'm not sure if this is one of the elements but if it was I'm not sure if it would be in symbolism or layout and graphics. But what I thought was "If the picture is unique, does that influence customers to buy the product?" That's a question I'm hoping Mr.Hughes can answer in class. The answer might be yes because when I see the unique picture in this advertisement I think that shoe must be very unique.

Help the World in One Way

If I could help the world in one way I think I would give everybody the ability to tell who’s smarter than whom. This is the best way to help the world I can think of cause maybe we’re voting all the wrong people into presidency. Maybe there are people who would make better kings or prime ministers. If humans could tell who’s smarter than who then maybe all the right people would be in charge. I mean wouldn’t it be amazing if we figured out that President Obama doesn’t know what he’s doing and the guy with the solution to world hunger is the guy mowing his lawn next door. If everybody knew that that guy mowing his lawn had the solution, he would be in charge and there would be no more world hunger!

That’s not the only way being able to tell who’s smarter than who would help. Say you want to invest in a company and you ask your friend which company he/she thinks will be the most successful. Now your friend may be your friend but that doesn’t mean he/she’s not stupid. He could point you in the completely wrong direction and you could lose everything. Now if you had the ability to tell who’s smarter than whom… you could ask a person who knew what he/she was doing. If everybody followed a plan like that than the most of the world’s economy wouldn’t be in the toilet.

Zungo Wungo Advertisement

Targeting: Small children around ages 6-10 (Most effective if read with a cheesy fast paced enthusiastic voice)

ZUNGO WUNGO! It's flat, no it's a ball, now it's flipped inside out! The Zungo Wungo changes shapes in the air and it's great for playing with friends and pets and don't forget it's water proof so you can play anytime anywhere for maximum fun time. Get the Zungo Wungo now and the hours will fly bye with fun time.

Giver Summary in 20 Words

A jet overflew the people's community. Asher was distracted by salmon separation and Jonas's family is sharing feelings at dinner.

Psych: Pilot

On friday in English we watched the pilot episode of Pysch. Psych is a mystery show with some comedy tossed in though it still had the elements of mystery. The element that every mystery that every mystery must have is the problem to solve.

In Psych it was the kidnapping of Camden McCallum, who was kidnapped for ransom. Another mystery element you must have is the person who solves the problem. In Psych it was Shawn and Gus. Shawn is the real main character and is posing as a psychic in front of the police. Gus is his best friend and has been since pre-school. Every mystery also has to have a person who started the problem. The weird thing in Psych was the kidnapper of Camden was Camden's friend Ourso and Camden was letting him kidnap him! The entire thing was planned out by Camden and his motivation was to steal some of his father's money. Lots of mysterys also have a twist or a surprise ending. The surprise ending in psych was that Camden's father accidentally killed his son and killed Ourso when he saw. Then Mr. McCallum covered his tracks to make it look like a murder/suicide. Camden's dog saw this all, making it the witness. When Camden's dog saw though it realized that Mr. McCallum was not a good man and so it bit him. The cast on Mr. McCallum's arm covered the wounds from the dog bites which served as evidence.

6 Elements of Mystery Represented by Pictures

This picture represents the person who solves the mystery because obviously this person is a detective. The footsteps indicate she's looking for someone and probably the person who might have started the crime.

This image represents the suspect. The image shows a man being interrogated by a policeman. This image fits because suspects are always interrogated for their alibi and such.

This image represents the witness. The little girl represents the witness and she witnessed a person murdering another person by gun.

This image represents evidence. You can see an evidence bag in the image above. In a mystery evidence is what will help the detective prove that he/she is right.

This image represents the victim because the woman with the gun pointed at her forehead will probably end up dead and make her the victim in the investigation following her death.

All good mystery stories have suspense. And that's what this image represents. You can add suspense to a story in many ways. Including a car chase which, as you can see, is my picture.

Mr. Monk and the Voodoo Doll Curse

In class today we watched the last 10 minutes of an episode of monk. Yesterday the rest of the class watched the beginning but I wasn't there so my report is all on what I think happened and the elements of a mystery in that episode.

Monk had many elements that make up a mystery and one of them was the problem, crime, wrong-doing, whatever you want to call it. In this case it was the death of Robert Boyd ,who had been set to look like he had a heart attack even though it was murder. His death was in a series with 2 other people though the other 2 weren't murdered.(Or at least the 2nd one, the 1st one was a homicide) The next element was the person who solves the crime. This of course was the obsessive detective Adrian Monk. Then all crimes begin with a villain. The true villain in this episode turned out to be Robert Boyds neice, Angeline Doerth though she had the alibi of he's my uncle, why would I kill him and I was upstairs when I heard a scream. The suspect was the voodoo shop keeper because all the dead people were found with a voodoo doll. The other 2 deaths acted as a red herring towards Monk. He struggled to find how these 3 people were connected, they weren't. Another red herring was when Angeline sent Monk's sidekick, Natalie a voodoo doll with a head cut off. This freaked Natalie out because each voodoo doll of each victim had the death of the person symbolized on it. For example the first person who died was hit on the head with a baseball. The little voodoo doll had a little voodoo baseball attached to it's little voodoo head. So Natalie's doll told her her head was going to be cut off. This is a red herring because it becomes Monk's priority to keep Natalie under control, safe and un-cursed. There was suspense in this story when Monk was chasing Angeline who was trying to kill Natalie. The twist in the end was when Monk put the story together gathering information like the evidence-which is Angeline was in the newspaper with the second victim who got zapped by lightning-and the motive-which was was money. Angeline's uncle had a fortune and she intended to get it. When Monk put this all together he saw the truth.

Plastiki

Recently a boat set sale for the first time. But this isn't just any old boat, it's named the Plastiki because it is made out of 12,000 recycled gas filled plastic bottles. It's started it's journey and is making it's way from California, USA to Sydney, Australia. That's about an 11,000 mile journey.

The big boss behind it all is David de Rothschild, adventurer, activist and founder of Adventure Ecology who says that it he's doing it because waste is a huge problem on earth removed from the consciousness of too many people. His goal is to raise public awareness about waste and we need to start rethinking waste as a resource. It's taken over 3 years for David and his crew to bring the Plastiki to life.

The features of the Plastiki also help separate it from the average sailing boat. It has one long cabin made out of repurposed plastic containing all the must-haves for a sea voyage. That has never been tried out at sea, but then again not much on this boat has been; for example the boat is solar AND wind powered and to top that off it has a little pedals that you can push like a bike to power the boat. Expedition Plastiki will hopefully change the way people think about the waste we produce.

Vocab 10 Definitions Represented by Pictures

1.Cajole

2.Tactics

3.Belligerent

4.Fixated

5.Indignantly

6.Stagnant

7.Admission

8.Blatant

9.Specifically

Hey TAS!! (Best quality but even harder to load)

Hey TAS!! (Better quality but harder to load)

Vocab 7 definitions

1. Out of the Blue- If something comes from out of the blue it means it was random, unexpected or off topic.

2.Mildew- Mildew is a type of fungus that appears when you have something wet stored in a cool or damp place.

3.Thunderous- Really loud or booming so if someone was making thunderous steps up the staircase they're probably slamming their foot down on every step causing a loud noise.

4.Hatch- A small door that's usually on the ground.

5.Chateau- A big beautiful home but not way to big but still big.

6.Orientation- The process of gathering information.

7.Contradiction the beginning of an argument or a disagreement.

8.Fault- A mistake that was made.

9.Preserve- When you want to preserve something you want to keep it safe make sure it is alive.

Hey TAS!!

Things Made in China

We're allowed to post anything to our blog if it's writing and so I posted this random little poem that I wrote in my spare time and journal time. It's called things made in China and the reality is much more than this is made in China.

Stuffed Poodles

Instant Noodles

Fake Hair

Underwear

Umbrellas that are Weather Beat

Quite a bit of Processed Meat

Lots and Lots of Frozen Peas

Drugs Shipped off to Pharmacies

Patterned Cots

China Pots

Dog Drool

Bar Stools

Glasses used by Dorks

Fatty Pounds of Pork

Cheap little Plastic Trinkets

Really small Robotic Piglets

Post-its

Toilets

Pencil Cases

Metal Braces

Books

Hooks

Chewed Lego

Stiff Play-Doh

Equipment used by Gladiators

And Most of all 6^th Graders!

Sorry

Dear Mr. Hughes,

You're probably reading this because it's exactly where the class video to TSA is. Well unfortunately my parents want me to check that every student in the class is okay with the small caption I wrote under their name. So by tomorrow morning I will have the video up. Sorry for the inconvenience.

Why is Haiti so Poor?

The earthquake in Haiti was terrible and the fact that it struck a country without the money to fix the damage made it even worse. But how did Haiti become so poor? Why didn't it have the money to fix the damage made? Many theories exist, these are some.

1. Many sources say Haiti was once a powerful civilization of Native Americans. The sources also say that once Columbus and the Europeans Haiti went downhill, the Europeans brought disease,death and misery.
2. One source also says Haiti was once a powerful colony but Haiti was on a buying binge. Haitians were buying things that they didn't need and nobody had enough money to by clothes and other necessities. The people with the money went to other places and were never heard from again.
3. The europeans took control of the sugar canes and half the island. The sugar canes were a main source of income for many people.
4. A plane stocked with cocaine crashed and all money was spent trying to stop the use of drugs.

Syren

If I could describe this book in 5 words I would say Sensational, Exciting and Keeps you awake. I thought the Septimus Heap series was losing its touch from the last book this book totally redeemed its reputation. Like the last 3 words of my 5 words, this book kept me awake.

I couldn't fall asleep until I read more and was made sure the characters were safe from the Syren.

In this book, while trying to fly home on Septimus's dragon, Spit Fyre is struck by lightning

and Jenna, Beetle and Septimus crash on the island of the Syren though they don't know it yet.

My favorite part of the book was when Septimus went up to the tower of the Syren with Syrah,

the wizard apprentice sealed off from time, and had to time all his motions and actions

carefully while still holding up his mind shield to make sure the Syren didn't get inside his head

like it did to Syrah.

This book receives 5 stars and deserves more. You can tell this book is go

od because I

finished it in December but all the action and mystery left an imprint in my brain so that I can

write about it now.

Haiti Update

Things aren't going so great in Haiti. Gangs are terrorizing people, Only few survivors are being found, Mental prisoners and Convicts are running free around Port-au-Prince and people are looting. Police armed with shotguns and assault rifles even open fired on looters killing on man in his 30's by a fatal shot to the head.

On the brighter side at least survivors are being found and everyone is trying to help. Countries from all over the earth are sending as much help as they can spare. The photo shows an australian news man holding the 18 month year old baby girl he put his camera down to rescue. He found her lying next to her dead parent's bodies and claims she had a look on her face that made it seem as though she was seeing the world for the first time.

People are doing all they can to help Haiti. But again Haiti isn't going to have all this aid forever. What Haiti needs is a way for Haiti to get back on it's feet, or for Haiti to finally start walking. Haiti has always been a poor country. It's about as deep into the shadows of places like USA and China as it can get.

Chaos in Haiti

Yesterday chaos erupted in Haiti as an earthquake hit measuring 7.0 on the richter scale. The death toll remains unknown but most sources on the internet say 100,000 people were killed. I don't know how many buildings were destroyed I don't think anyone knows the actual amount considering there was so much damage are done I think the amounts are countless. The image shows a before the earthquake and an after the earthquake scene of the Port-au-Prince, Haiti's National Palace. I'm going to guess this was probably the sturdiest building in all of Haiti considering the other building images I've seen. Even though the National Palace barely even looks like the same building. The top image looks like it could be the White House( And that's unspeakably good considering how poor Haiti is) however the place in the bottom picture could be a fugitive's hideout. I wonder how Haiti will be able to survive. First the hurricane now this. The US military relief is already headed to Haiti stocked with supplies. But will Haiti be able to live off people's aid forever? I'm not so sure.

My Break

For my break I went all over Cambodia and to Bangkok. I started in Cambodia. We met my grandparents in Siam Reap. There we went to visit the famous Angkor Wat. I didn't really like it. There are just some things that you have to be at least 30 years old to appreciate. One temple was Ok because I jumped around in the ruins. I discovered a lot of places dangerous and off limits. That didn't really stop me. I went in them anyway and here I am typing this. Other than than Angkor Wat it was just R&R and look at dead bodies. We visited the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum probably better known as S-21. Cambodia was involved in the world's 2nd largest genocide and S-21 had plenty of photos of prisoners and torturers. The weird thing was at least 70% of the photos of torturers were CHILDREN!!! That's because the attackers ,The Khmer Rouge, realized that the children's minds were still fresh and could be corrupted.

In Bangkok I saw the movie Avatar. It was really good. Some movies, I feel like they drag on forever even if they're only an hour and 15 minutes. Avatar was twice as long and I didn't feel like it dragged on at all. I was always thrilled throughout the entire experience. $400 million was spent on making the movie and my dad says he read that in places around the world people were standing up and clapping at the end of the movie. That scene where Jake first saw the giant hawk thing cost $4 million alone. The bad thing is there really isn't a way a sequel can be created. I mean everyone knows what can really go wrong from now on. But it's been done with movies before. I think it's the greatest movie of 2009 and maybe even 2010.