TheHungerGamesMonthlyReview

The Hunger Games, written by Suzanne Collins, is the first book in its trilogy. This book is thrilling, adventure, blood and gore, romance, physical, survival, and also about psychology. The story starts in a town North of America in Panem. Panem is divided into 13 different districts. And each year each district randomly picks two people in the age range of 12 to 18, one boy and one girl, to represent them in a yearly game, The Hunger Games. The winner of the game is someone who can live at ease without worries of the future, but they'll have a horrible past. The main character is Katniss Everdeen, or some people know her as Catnip. Katniss is a 16-year-old girl who lives with her mother and younger sister, Prim (who was chosen for the games, but Katniss eventually volunteered and saves Prim from entering the games.) Katniss and her family lives in district 12, which used to be Appalachia, is a poor mining community called the Seam. Katniss provides food for her family by hunting in a forbidden area with her friend, Gale, an 18-year-old boy who also lives in the Seam, and with whom she has a small crush on. Along with Katniss, who volunteered for the games, a 16-year old boy (same age as Katniss), Peeta was chosen. This may be a spoiler for the romance part of the story but, as time passed Katniss grows fond of Peeta, and later discovers that Peeta has had a crush on her for some time. This leaves Katniss with a horrible dilemma because she also has feelings for her friend, Gale. So a love- triangle is created. Okay so now is the time to answer some questions.

Number one: What was the author's purpose(s) in writing this book, and how can you tell? How well was this purpose achieved?
The author's, Suzanne Collins', purpose is to teach young readers about hardships in life, and if not for technology, we would have a hard time living and surviving this so called messed up world. Throughout the whole story, Suzanne kept throwing hardships towards Katniss, to prove that the unexpected can come flying towards you without you knowing yourself. I can tell by reading the point, Suzanne clearly states the main purpose throughout the entire first book. There were surprises here and there, we couldn't predict what would happen next. It was amazing. The purpose of the book was clearly stated like what I said before, and it was greatly achieved. The author has amazing effects and description to scare young readers to depend on family and friends and also not to overuse technology. I'm not really sure what the author's real purpose was, but I think this was what she wanted to state. Or I think it was. Throughout the entire story, Suzanne stayed on the same topic of stay positive and it will reward you in a grateful way, which can be anything, death, the right to stay alive, another harsh life ahead. Anything can be thrown at you. Just stay positive and do what you should do in the future. This first book of the trilogy taught me many lessons and I hope that I would remember all of it.

Number four: How would you describe the author's style of writing? What's your opinion of the style?
I would describe the author's style of writing as something that's extremely detailed and also something that can blend psychology and romance together. My opinion of the style is that I enjoy this type of style because it shows great detail and also helps me have an imagery of the days and things that happen. It helps me have an image of all the blood and gore, and also the sweet moments of the love triangle between the love birds, Katniss and Peeta along with Gale. Different styles of writing help different people in both reading (understanding) and also imagery. Different people requires different styles of writing. Most people enjoy imagery but others just want to read it and understand. This book, The Hunger Games, helps with both because this style of writing is very brilliant, in my own opinions.

Number eight: Pick a character that interested you and write about them in depth.
For this question, I pick Katniss Everdeen, because she's the main character and also she's really interesting to write/type about. To start off, Katniss Everdeen is six-teen years old, older than me by a year, and her sister was picked for the Hunger Games. But she volunteered last minute to replace her sister, Prim, and entered that game. There she met many different people from different districts and it also includes Peeta who lives in her district. So Katniss entered the game, and did what ever was necessary to survival in this entertaining game for sponsors. The whole point of the game is to kill off everyone besides of you and also survive with sponsorships from people watching your fight. In this game, Katniss developes a new feeling towards a special someone during the games. But that's another story for another day. So Katniss got many sponsors from the romance that's building up as you keep reading the first book. And so her sponsors pitched in to buy her a little ten ounce or so of medical ointment for wounds, bee stings, and any other form of wound and hurt. That magical medical ointment was very expensive but very useful when it came to survival. Okay so later on, Katniss used the ointment and also her friend, Rue, used some medical leaves nearby to patch up her wounds from bee stings. And survived for that chapter of the book. Later Katniss finds a special someone and heals him. That's as far as I can spoil it? My opinion of Katniss is someone who cares a lot about friends even if they do end up hurting them or back stab them. Katniss is just too heartwarming and kind.

That's the end of my monthly review.

TheHungerGamesPartThree

Yes, I finally finished The Hunger Games a few days ago, I think. Long story short, the third part of the book is mainly about the end of the game and also the relationship between Katniss and Peeta, on and off screen. Since Nathan Wong's blog lit circle letter 3 explained the main point of the ending, romance. And I haven't read Nancy's or other Nathan's and I'm pretty sure Andrew is still working on it, I have no idea on what they're writting/ have written. So I'll just pick something else to talk about, maybe about the last moments of this game.
Katniss only had one arrow left, the one that killed Cato. Cato is the person from District One, i think, and Cato also stabbed Peeta on the leg. (Peeta depends on Katniss for survival during the hardest times of their challenge.) So Peeta unzipped his jacket, freeing Katniss, and she grabs her last arrow with her frozen fingers and grips it. She stares into the dim light, and figures out where her prey was from the sounds from his mouth. "Pity, not vengeance, sends my arrow flying into his skull." Best line ever. The cannon then fires in answer to Peeta's question on whether or not Katniss hit Cato or not. Both Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark won the Seventy-Fourth Hunger Games. And if you read Nathan Wong's lit circle letter then you would know that Peeta got a robotic leg after the games. And if you haven't yet then, Peeta does get a robtotic leg.
Question time!
1: Do you think Peeta should have died near the end, leaving Katniss the only winner?
2: Did you think Cato was a strong opponent towards Katniss?
3: What really happened near the conclusion of the games?

The End.

FamousYoutubers

In this blog post, I'll be talking/typing about regular people, like you and me, who became famous over viewers on Youtube. In the following list are the people who became famous over Youtube; thewinekone (Tony), michellephan (Michelle Phan), stillnotdavid (David), nigahiga (Ryan and Sean), kevjumba (Kevin), bubzbeauty (no idea what her real name is, nickname: Bubz), lunazian (Huu "who"), shimmycocopuffsss (Danial Shim), and WongFuProductions (Wesley Chan, Ted Fu, and Philip Wang). In the next paragraph, I will briefly introduce them.
TheWineKone, to start things off, is someone who films comedies and somewhat parodies. Here's one of his videos titled "Super Tonio Bros. Fail 4." http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s4neg4a1Zso
MichellePhan is a makeup guru, also a makeup artist, and she also films makeup tutorials. She's also a huge fan of Final Fantasy!!! Michelle is being recognized by Lancome, Vogue, and she also does the makeup for some celebrities. Final Fantasy/ 1040 Movie Update http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7htH1SdYygE
StillNotDavid is someone who sings, has a sense of humor, and also someone who can give you facts about anything related to guys. Girls are like Pokemon http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ym2gvH6Hrsg
NigaHiga is a comedy duo who also does parodies about official movies. They also acted in their own movie, appropriately named "Ryan and Sean's Not So Excellent Adventure." This is their trailer. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oh0bkX_3oUA And I can't stop laughing at this additional video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=weIbm3m-Xbo
KevJumba is another comedian who likes to dance and make hand motions. He has a great relationship with his father, who is also very funny. I Love My Dad http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ayo7JQ_3B18
BubzBeauty is another makeup guru who also has a sense of humor. Her comedy channel is Bubbiosity. She also has a clothing line, her official website is http://bubzbeauty.com/. Epic Asian Drama Parody http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EM6f7FyAHtc
Lunazian is a singer on Youtube. He's Vietnamese but can sing/speak in French and English. Huu - L'envie et le dédain (Tété cover) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9d_D-cBrswk
Shimmycocopuffsss is someone who's also a comedian. He has a really interesting personality. 100000 subscribers http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SdJ6VIvLeCQ
WongFuProductions is about three guys who films about every event that happens. Brushing Teeth with Jack?!? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hvVecB3vwxM

And that's it for Famous Youtubers!!! xD

TheHungerGamesPart2

In the second part of the book, this is what happened. Peeta Mellark and Katniss Everdeen has a pretty unique relationship with each other. When you think of The Hunger Games, you think of survival and lots of blood and guts, but in this part of the book, more romance will be encountered. (This book contains every genre I like, romance, violence, but not comedy, sadly.) The farther we get into this book, the more action-y it gets and new surprises are revealed. You can't predict what will happen next in this book, it's just impossible.
So in this episode, more people are found dead. Peeta joins the Careers. Careers tributes are overly vicious, arrogant, better fed, but only because they're the Capitol's lapdogs. And Katniss barely sleeps to stay alive with every other person who survived. In this episode, Katniss finds a way to get sponsors to make surviving easier. (Later on, Katniss finds out how much sponsors could help her.) Spoiler!!! Some sponsors bought her some ointment or medicine to heal her bruises and attacks.
The games haven't officially started, all that chaos was just a warm up. I will never last in a game like that, unless it's virtual and doesn't risk your life. I wonder if the viewers know it's real people, or it's all scripted? I mean like, the gamemakers can set up any kind of surprise for the victims and the viewers would think it's funny or entertaining.
I'm pretty sure my reading partners will add more of the summary in their review letters, so I'll stop here and ask questions to my partners.
1: Do you think the people who are "betting" on the winner, knows if its scripted or not?
2: Did you enjoy this second part as much as me?
3: What did you think about Rue?
4: What will happen to Peeta and Katniss?
5: Are there anymore surprises in the book?
(I'm asking these kinds of questions because I know that 3 members out of 5 is done with the book. Cough. You know who you are.)

Art

For this week's blog post, I'm going to write about something different from my regular blog posts. Besides of writing about anime or manga, I'll be writing about art; the classes that are available at AHS, and if I'm not lazy then classes at CSU East Bay, and also Alameda College.
So far, I have taken Art and I'm currently in Art2 (with a bunch of juniors and seniors) at AHS. If I'm not lazy, I'll ask my sister about the art classes at CSU East bay and also if she has any new techniques she could teach you and me. and also if I ask my sister, I'll also ask my brother about his classes at Alameda College, since he's currently taking two Art classes there and also an Art History class. If I do ask them, I'll post them up in next week's blog post, maybe, maybe not. Lol. Okay, so to start this off Alameda High School Art.
Alameda High School's art classes aren't that bad considering the low economy and lack of supplies for schools. Well actually Art one with ___*bleep*___ (not mentioning the name for safe purposes, Lol.) wasn't that good of a teacher. In Art 1, I didn't learn anything new; instead we were on our own on creating "masterpieces." Art two, the class I’m currently taking right now is way different. Here are three reasons why. Reason one: The teacher actually helps us individually. Reason Two: There is way more supplies to use (more variety.) Reason three: We can be creative in our own way and still get graded on that. Reason Four: Us students can choose some of our projects for an actual grade. (Whoops I gave an extra reason! Oh well.) The supplies that we are allowed to use without a teacher’s permission are watercolors and brushes, graphite pencils, ebony pencils, prismacolor color pencils, tempura paints, shading pencils, and special art paper. The special art paper may not sound important, but each kind helps with a specific kind of art form. Example: Watercolor paper helps enhance the watercolor paints, I think. The "hard" paper is for pencils only because of the quality of it. The regular paper is for rough drafts, so you can mess up as much as you want. End of examples. Lol. These special papers (except regular paper) is very expensive, so don't mess up on you’re final draft.
The project I'm currently working on right now is a watercolor painting of a rose. I just started last week, so it'll be a while before I complete it.
Note: Since I need a picture for this blog post, I'll upload the acrylic painting I painted at home, during my free-time.
Warning: It may be really bad! >_<
I guess I'll continue with the rest next week, maybe, maybe not! :P
Oh yeah, hahahaha at my horrible camera/photo taking skills!!!

TheHungerGamesReviewOne

In order to make this book review an actual book review, I will first introduce the book. Since it is the first book review of this new book.
The Hunger Games was written by Suzanne Collins, a New york Times Bestselling Author.
In the ruins of a place once known as North America lies the nation of Panem, a shining Capitol surrounded by twelve outlying districts. The Capitol is harsh and cruel and keep st he districts in line by forcing them all to send one boy and one girl between the ages of twelve and eighteen to participate in the annual huger games, a fight to death on live TV. Sixteen year old Katniss Everdeen, who lives alone with her mother and younger sister, regards in as a death sentence when she steps forward to take her sister's place in the Games. But Katniss has been close to dead before- and survival, for her, is second nature. Without really meaning to, she becomes a contender. But if she is to win, she will have to start making choices that weigh survival against humanity and life against love.
Okay so here are some of my annotations for the first part of the book, and also included is my favorite parts of the first part.
Annotations: Page 5, paragraph 2. This part in the" beginning, gave me a few chills and also told me a little about the story I was going to read. I mean like really, "...the flesh eaters...venomous snakes, rabid animals, and no real paths to follow..."
On page 7, lines 1-3. I laughed at this part when I read it. Someone would actually believe that the other person's name was Catnip! LOL.
Page 22, starting from line 4 to the rest of the page. I couldn't believe out of all those people Prim got picked to be that representative. And also, I didn't really expect Katniss to volunteer to take her place and enter the "death" games.
Page 45, quote "A fox-faced girl with sleek red hair from District 5." I can't really imagine that. Could someone help me find a picture of this or some other method to help me imagine/picture this? She might not be a part of this story nor the main character but I'm still curious on what/how she looks like.
Well there's a few annotations that I wanted to share to my fellow classmates and also group mates.
Even though I thought this part was messed up (where Katniss volunteered to the "death" games) that was also one of my favorite parts in the first part.
First book review complete!

BadmintonGirl

For this week's blog post, I shall write/type about Badminton Girl. This is not an anime, but a manga. Don't be surprised because of my previous blog posts about anime and not manga. This will be my first manga blog post. Okay to start, I will introduce this manga.
Asahi, the main character, is a 7th grade student who is very bad at sports. She joined the volleyball club when she first entered junior high school, knowingly only to quit it one month later because she couldn't keep up with practice. Feeling discouraged from all kinds of sports, Asahi was indecisive when her friend asked her to play a double badminton match to substitute for a member who couldn't play that day. Surprisingly, Asahi found out that she has talent for badminton. Since this manga isn't that well known yet, I have no idea who the person who wrote it or illustrated is. Well it does say on the cover page, I apparently can't read or understand Japanese that well, so I can't translate for you.
I really enjoy this manga because it reminds me of me. I see my own reflection in this manga. A girl who's really bad at all sports, but ends up trying badminton, enjoying it, and also dedicated to it no matter what the obstacles are. She wasn't good at first, like me, but the results are a person who wants to improve and one day become a professional in the Olympics. Okay maybe that's not her dream but it is mine. XD Okay so back to the compare and contrast, the effects of hard and difficult training leads to a brilliant creation.
I first discovered this manga from a friend who saw me in the manga. So I thought "sure why not, not try it." But even if I did reject the recommendation, i would end up finding it and reading it.
From this manga, I learned that no matter how hard your opponent is, you shouldn't give up and run away like a scared cat. But to stand up and try your best no matter what, even if you do lose, keep going until the very end of the game or match. A challenge leads to one's new found skill or improvement. That's what I believe. Competition is important to me because I am a really competitive person. If I win something, I would be proud of myself, and not give pity the opponents. And if I lost, then I would keep training until that day when I get to play him/her again. And to prove my competitive-ness, I will now quote something one my fellow classmate said (this is the first part of a paragraph) "Well lets stop talking about how I met Annly, lets just talk all about her. So umm... well she likes anime A LOT and also badminton. She's a fierce competitor in badminton, so you better watch out, cause she will destroy you :D,” and the rest in here -----> http://ninjanathant.blogspot.com/2009/12/n-n-l-y-d-o-u-n-g.html

That's all folks... for now! XD Hehehe.