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The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

william
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Last week I reviewed a novel called “I am the messenger” by Markus Zusak. I decided that since that book was so awesome, I would read and review another one of his novels. So this week I’m reviewing “the book thief” by Markus Zusak.

This novel is narrated by “death”, I found that quite interesting. Death is represented as a conscious being, with emotions and morals. In this novel death is not evil but wise and fair. It is very strange to have a narrator that is all knowing and constantly jumps through time, a narrator who knows the ending before the story begins, but I found it quite enjoyable.

Despite the narrator being death the protagonist of this story is a 9 year old girl named Liesel. She is a poor girl growing up with her foster parents in Nazi Germany, this is a story of her growing up and discovery the different aspects of life and books-something she can not resist.

This novel reminded me of “to kill a mockingbird” with the way society is explored though the perspective of maturing children. This story is moving and beautifully written.

One of my favorite things about this novel was how death believed that humans are evil but at the same time capable of great beauty. I would recommend this to anyone 14+ and enjoys reading; I give this novel a 5/5.

YW2010: Hoops Extreme

YouthWeek
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Hey all you basketball lovers! I just came back from Hoops Extreme! (a Youth Week event we told you about yesterday) and I have to say….it was AWESOME. Even though the weather was freezing outside, the competition in the building was steaming hot.

Surprisingly, lots of youth showed up to compete in this 3 on 3 competition and show off their skills. There were people from all different age groups. I was even surprised to see grade 6 kids who entered their team in this competition. It just goes to show that skills knows no age.

Along with the competition, there were also contests. There were 3 pointer shots contests, half court shots contests, and I even saw a couple of guys dunking!!!! The YMCA did a great job in providing many volunteers!  I had a chance to mingle with some of the players and hand out a bunch of Youth Week stickers. A lot of them said that they were gonna’ check out the website. Many of them hadn’t heard of Youth Week so they were pretty excited to hear all the events coming up.  Meng, my fellow Youth Week planning committee member, did a great job of telling people of all the upcoming events and we handed out two VIP passes to another Youth Week event – “One Night Only at the Creative Kids Museum” coming up at the Telus World of Science (I recommend checking it out, I hear it’s really cool).

To end off this awesome day, YMCA handed out a bunch of gift bags to the kids. Inside the bags there were basketballs (which you had to pump), huge bags of candies, and water bottles. Some people even got really cool sports bags.  Everyone who attended (including us) got a free YMCA Hoops Extreme t-shirt.  I also went to the kick off on Friday April 23rd and there was a motivational speaker and the kids got pizza!! There was registration, some competition and practice. If you missed out this event, I’m sorry to say..but you missed out on a great day. Check the blog in a couple of day for some pictures, and for updates on more Youth Week events. PCEEEEEEEE EZY.

YW2010: Kicking Off the Week!

kaitlin
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It’s official:  Youth Week Calgary officially begins today and runs until May 2nd!

There’s tons of really cool events happening for all you awesome youth out there, and today we are kicking things off with four new events:

The Youth Volunteer Corps (YVC) in Calgary is kicking off Youth Week by celebrating Global Youth Service Day – a day that encourages youth all over the world to give back to their community through volunteering.  Today, the YVC is working on their ReGeneration Project – they’re planting a beautiful community garden for a youth transitional home in Calgary.

Into basketball? We let you in on a really cool tournament happening this weekend at the YMCA @ Bishop McNally High School…Hoops Extreme! is your chance to enjoy some b-ball this weekend!  Whether you already signed up yourself and two friends to play in this 3 on 3 basketball tournament, or you’re just interested in popping by to sit in the stands and soak in all the action, it’s going to be a great day!

Hey all you film-lovers out there!  The Cochrane Youth Association is celebrating Youth Week by holding their annual Film and Art Festival tonight at the Cochrane Ranchehouse Theatre.  Filmmakers from Cochrane, Calgary and the surrounding area were encouraged to submit short films to be judged, with the results revealed tonight!  Plus, there’s going to be youth entertainers performing all night!

Whether you’re a huge comic book fan, or just want to take in all the celebs that will be there, the Calgary Comic & Entertainment Expo is happening this weekend.  There’s something for everyone at the BMO Centre both today and tomorrow, whether you’re interested in seeing Leonard Nimoy (a.k.a. the original SPOCK!) or are a Twi-hard (there will be THREE Twilight stars present this weekend), or want to meet some of your favourite sci-fi/comic book writers and illustrators – it’s an event no to be missed!

For more details on all of these events, check out Youth Week’s Events listing page – start planning your week now!

National Volunteer Week: Where You Can Go to Make a Difference this Summer

kaitlin
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It’s officially the last day of National Volunteer Week 2010 in Canada.

In honour of this awesome week that encourages everyone to not only to volunteer, but to show appreciation to volunteers in their own community, we’re bringing you a really cool opportunity that may make your summer a whole lot more fun…and a whole lot more international.

Ever wanted to do something good for other people while learning about a new culture and travelling abroad?  The Global Volunteer Network (GVN), which provides cool volunteering opportunities in 21 countries all over the world, has created a special project just for youth that are 15 – 17 years old.   The Vietnam Youth Tour will take you to Tam Ky, Vietnam for a 10 day trip (from July 25th – August 7th) where you will get the opportunity to care for the children and babies who live in the orphanages that GVN works in, with the help and supervision of GVN staff.  Plus, you’ll get to do arts and crafts with these children, and could even help teach them English, work on school restoration projects, and learn about the Vietnamese culture in depth.

All of this and you’ll get a great opportunity for personal growth and to meet tons of of new people from all over the world…so what are you waiting for??  The program was created by Erin Courtenay, a former GVN volunteer, and you can contact her for more info (erin.gvn@volunteer.org.nz) or click here to sign up!

Pearson Art IB show

lisa aka "Mangomaru"
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Last Tuesday and Thrusday of last week, there was a spectacular show of art work presented by the grade 12 art IB students. Being good friends with many of the artists, I attended both art shows to show my support; besides, I was also curious as to the art pieces my talented friends had created. Conforming a regular classroom into a makeshift art gallery, splendid and breath taking art greeted my eyes as I first walked into the room. Cakes and drinks were served at a table upfront, and wide corridors and carefully arranged art displays allowed many students, parents, and teachers to view different sections of the art show. All the artists claimed different portions of the room to display their art, and were fortunately present beside their art pieces, happily answering questions and explaining their mental processes throughout the creation of the art pieces. These art students are not your average passive painter, or run of the mill sketcher; these art IB students are dilligent, hardworking, and extremely gifted artists that are expected to spend hours after school, at lunch, in the mornings, to create their amazing studio art work, all planned and recorded in their art journals. These art journals are required to be filled with the artist’s perspective’s of works by other artists, plus anaylze and plan their own art pieces, explaining concepts such as the use of images, symbols and themes present in their artwork. At the end of their year, an assesor comes and examines their artwork, grading on not how well an artpiece is done per say, but also how effective the art conveys a theme or a story, and the mental aspects of what went on inside the artist’s head. Life sure isn’t easy for an art IB student, but it definitely is rewarding.

I was simply astounded at such beautiful art pieces, conveying a lot of emotions, symbolism and detail.

Perspective Pt. 6: Creating on the Fly

TheGentlemanScholar
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To start off, I’d like to express my disappointment at the turnout for the photography contest. Aside from one of my friends and myself that entered, there was only ONE other entry. Sadly, this means the contest is over. You can all feel free to post to the Flickr group at any time if you like, and stand-out photos may be featured in a post, but there is no longer a posting limit or specific topic.

On a happier note, congratulations to user cmmcn, who won this contest with this picture:

By cmmcn(If this is you, please check your Flickr inbox!)

For this week’s topic, I thought I’d try out a neat little app for the iPhone/iPod Touch/iPad, made by architecture and design giant Autodesk, called Sketchbook. After using it for a while, I am very pleased with how it works, and decided it’s worth the review, even if it isn’t strictly related to photography.

Opening Screen

The first thing you’ll notice about it is that it’s a very professional app. Even the icon is formal.

Yes, I spend way too much on apps...

After the title screen, there’s not much to see. You are literally presented with a blank slate, save for one all-important button at the bottom.

From this button, you have full access to any drawing and editing tools you may want: from transform tools to brushes to colour pickers, they’re all under that one button.

To start a project, just choose a brush…

… Choose a colour…

… and away you go!

To check out the full-featured app, click here.

To get the free version, click here.

Happy doodling!

blue.sky.

Cindy
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If you are feeling down

Then please look up

Into the sky

Into the blue

The sun shines

Towards you

But so are you

Shining towards the sun

Youth Week is Coming Soon!!!

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Basketballll!!!

 I am so excited for the Youth Week events starting this weekend!  I hope you guys have been checking out all the cool events that are coming up pretty soon. If you’re into basketball and the NBA or WNBA, make sure you go check out Hoops Extreme! which starts  TODAY (6-10pm) and continues on Saturday April 24th (12pm-8pm) at Bishop McNally High School. Register your team of 3 for a 3 on 3 competition against other good bball players. If you’re not good at basketball, you can come watch. What a great event to go along with the basketball playoffs. Thanks to YMCA for pulling this off!

The Final Stretch: 1 — It’s Striking!

eva
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Do you remember the track and field unit in gym class? You know how you’re supposed to try your hardest during that last part of a race or so to cross that finish line? Well, I’m here to tell you that isn’t the case for senior year (grade 12)!

Grade 12 is more commonly known as senior year down in the states than here in Canada, but I assure you, senioritis still exists! (And no, that isn’t actually a serious illness.)

Senioritis!

Senioritis is when students display a lack of effort or motivation towards their studies in their final year, whether it be in high school, university/college or graduate school. You probably wouldn’t think that is the case, since grade 12 is the year when your marks really matter for post-secondary (your other marks are important too though!). But recently, my friends and I have really experienced senioritis.

Whether it’s because of the nice weather we’ve been having here in Calgary, because of all the talk about graduation or otherwise, it’s a serious issue! If senioritis strikes you hard enough, your marks might start slipping due to your lack of studying or your attendence record starts to suffer due to the fact you may start skipping classes (skipping classes tends to lower your marks in general since you miss out on things…don’t skip!). If things get really bad, the post-secondary institutions who extended an offer of admission to you just might take them back! Scary thought much…

According to Wikipedia, the thought that “only students that take advanced placement classes are the ones affected by senioritis” is a common misconception! I’m not entirely sure why that would be the case though. I can assure you that amongst my friends, both students taking normal classes and IB classes have been afflicted. =P

Anyways, in a nutshell, I’ve been taking  advantage of the good weather and staying out later than I should have in the sun…which doesn’t help since the sun sets rather late in Calgary now. I can’t wait for summer… ♥

In next week’s post, I’ll hopefully be able to let those of you in senior year know how you can deal with senioritis if you’ve been feeling the effects of it too. This post is to just get the word out about this (oh-so-serious crippling) disease! Between now and then, try your best to work hard! =]

Happy Earth Day!

Sarah K
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I posted previously about a number of events going on throughout Calgary to honour Earth Day. Well, today’s the day, and while you’re out hugging trees you may as well take advantage of these other cool happenings as well.

Higher Ground, an awesome café I’ve also blogged, is offering free coffee (or tea) for anyone who brings in a reusable travel mug, and will be selling their own travel mugs for nearly half-off. They’re also participating in the David Suzuki Foundation “Earth Week Book Swap” and will have a table set up from 6PM-8PM for anyone wanting to leave a book and take a book, and free coffee and tea for those who participate. Finally, as it’s a Thursday, they will be having their third Vegetarian Night of this month. Part of the menu tonight: “Pumpkin cake with chocolate-hazelnut ganache & organic cinnamon coffee sauce”. If that doesn’t get your mouth watering..

In any case, enjoy your day and your surroundings, and take it upon yourself to show the trees some love.

Everything You Need To Know From: Hopeless Romantic Jel

jessica
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HRJLast Friday (April 16th to be exact), Hopeless Romantic Jel released his CD, “Angel’s Touch” and celebrated with a CD release at The House Coffee Sanctuary. I was fortunate to be able to be part of the large crowd that had packed themselves into the very warm coffee shop for a night of local talent; all organized by Jel Gonzales. The night opened with performances by friends including Brandon Wight, Victoria Noelle and Francis Catolos with Travis Presbitero and even a mashup of childhood television theme songs by Andrew Lumapas (a mashup I soon won’t forget). HRJ opened his performance with a cover of Jay Sean’s radio hit Down ft. Lil Wayne. But before the stage beckoned him, I took HRJ outside for a breath of fresh air instead of the stuffy air in the coffee house and snuck in a few questions of course.

YAA: How did you record your cd?

HRJ: During open mic a lot of people were jamming and one of my friends came up to me and said hey I have a recording studio if you want to record with us and make a cd, give us a call. So I called him up and we recorded some songs and he helped me fix the volumes and stuff.

YAA: What do you mostly write your music about?

HRJ: Love obviously. Hence the name, Hopeless Romantic Jel; my friend called me that one day and I thought hey that works. Haha. Basically just teen crushes.

YAA: When did you first start playing music?

HRJ: When I moved to the US in 2005; I wrote my first song about a girl.

YAA: On a scale of one to ten how nervous are you?

HRJ: Is it possible to go to a 100? Or times that by ten? Haha. I don’t have butterflies in my stomach, they are more like cheetah’s running around like crazy.

YAA: Why did you decide to incorporate your friends tonight with the show?

HRJ: Cause they always want to perform at open mics and they never get the chance too. I thought hey I’ll give them a chance to perform with me, and it makes me more comfortable to have them performing because they are one of my main inspirations to keep going with music.

YAA: Have you played a lot of open mic nights at The House?

HRJ: I’ve played open mics for 4 years and now I’m one of the co-hosts during the Thursday night open mics.

YAA: What is your favourite type of cheese?

HRJ: All kinds. I once mixed them all together in a sandwich it was delicious. Best sandwich of my life. It was just cheese, a grilled cheese sandwich.

If you want to check out Hopeless Romantic Jel your best bet is to swing by The House, Thursday nights for Open Mic Night. And now you know everything about Hopeless Romantic Jel.
HRJ Music

SE S500i vs LG KF350

eva
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Over spring break, yours truly managed to break her phone! It was actually quite a funny story of how it happened, but I’ll spare you the details. I am still rather upset about it though…but thankfully, my friend had a spare one! Hurray for not being phoneless! Proud phone/text addict right here… =]

So since I’m not quite over the loss of my phone (trust me, I was so attached to it…I think I even named it Simba), I decided to write a review of sorts for my ex-phone (RIP) and the borrowed phone I’ve been using for the past few weeks. I’ll base it on four categories (or just the functions I use on a phone), but since I’ve only been using this new phone for a few weeks, my knowledge is rather limited…so my disclaimer for any bias you may find about these phones is right here! ; )

First off, the SE S500i is a Sony Ericsson phone. As far as I know, it was never widely released in North America (I got mine in Taiwan). The LG KF350, also know as the Ice Cream phone, is a flip phone from LG. Yes, both do come off as rather feminine (the Ice Cream especially with its soft colours), but they’re pretty neat.

Next, photos/random info for both!

SE S500i Purple

SE S500i Ice Purple

So as you may or may not have noticed, the S500i phones are slider phones. They were not designed with a particular function in mind, like the Walkman for music or the Cybershot for photos. It was just meant to be an overall average phone that looks pretty spiffy (and awesome). And yes, it does look very similar to the Walkman series, but I definitely prefer the layout of the keys (and the colour choices) on this series over the Walkman ones.

Continue

‘lettuce sandwich and make my bun wheat’

alice
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Fast food; convenient, cheap and pretty delicious, what’s there not to like? Spring break has ended and the routine of going to these places for lunch and after school continues. As a student myself I know how appealing fast food restaurants are. After some time away from the burgers and fries I decided to treat myself to some and my body did not feel too great after. Later some quick nutrition research (yay Google) I was shocked at what I had been feeding my body all this time.

Keeping the burger simple with no ‘double’, added bacon or cheese, and reasonable choices people would usually make–let the battle of burgers begin! Think the Big Mac from McDonalds is bad with 540 calories? Think again. The Angus Burger from McDonalds and Mozza Burger from A&W both win it with 600 calories and 39g of fat. But beating them all with the 730 calories, 47g of fat and 1400mg of sodium is the DQ quarter pounder Flame Thrower Burger. Ladies and gentleman we have a winner.

[youtube nWTYyx6PLZY ]

Now with the nice weather what great time for ice cream treats? The small chocolate milkshake from A&W is loaded with 127g of sugar! A small Oreo McFlurry contains 500 calories and small DQ Oreo Blizzard contains 630 calories. On the bright side, it is 35% of your daily calcium intake.

What do you get at Arby’s? Why their famous curly fries of course! I usually get a regular size of the curly fries which has 540 calories and 1230mg of sodium. Mmm, next time the small size?

Don’t be fooled, the ‘healthier’ choice on the menu may not be healthier for you. The sneaky add-ons and salad dressings can all add up! Without the dressing the Mighty Caesar entrée salad at McDonald with chicken has 410 calories with a lovely addition of 1190mg of sodium.

So occasionally indulge in these foods but keep in mind what exactly you are putting in your body. Check out the nutrition value on their website or some fast food chains have them printed on the other side of the menu.

Love yourself. Be kind to your body.

eU: Ep3 – youngest solo sailor in the making

Bo
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Jessica WatsonJessica Watson is taking on the challenge of the many sailors before her, to sail solo, non-stop, unassisted across the world’s oceans. She is not the first youth to sail across the world, in fact, there are numerous other sailors such as Zac Sunderland and Michael Perham who sailed before they turned 18. Jessica is going one step further, by doing the challenging sail earlier and longer than the sailors before her. She is planning on finishing her sail sometimes mid-May this year. I’ll keep you updated.

Here is her awesome journey so far:

Watson sailed out of Sydney Harbour on 18 October, 2009

On 13 January 2010 she passed Cape Horn, having sailed around 9,800 nm in 87 days. This was 11 days ahead of the planned 100 nm per day schedule. Soon after her parents flew over her in a small plane in order to witness the passage.

On 23 January 2010, several days after passing the Falkland Islands, she suffered four knock-downs in a severe storm with 10-metre waves and 70-knot winds. The storm caused minor damage to her boat and her emergency beacon was accidentally activated as the mast hit the water.

On 25 January 2010, her 100th day at sea, she passed the halfway point on her voyage, 11,500 nm based on the original calculation of 23,000 nm sailing route.

On 15 February 2010, she crossed the Prime Meridian, crossing from the Western Hemisphere to the Eastern Hemisphere.

On February 24, Watson passed the Cape of Good Hope and reached Cape Agulhas, the southernmost point of Africa, crossing from the Atlantic Ocean into the Indian Ocean.

From southern Africa, Watson sailed more than 5000nm towards Western Australia.

On 10 April, Watson arrived to the Australian economic zone. There her parents and media flew over her in a small plane in order to welcome her.

On 12 April, Watson passed Cape Leeuwin in southwestern Australia. She has approximately 2,500nm remaining as she sails south of Tasmania and returns to Sydney to complete her circumnavigation.

She is expected to complete her journey early May, well ahead of schedule, and shortly before her seventeenth birthday.

To learn about Jessica, visit her website.

Youth Week Calgary 2010

kaitlin
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Have you heard about Youth Week?

[youtube vtSYeZk08iM]

Youth Week is based on an international initiative meant to celebrate…well YOU (or, in more formal terms: youth empowerment, achievement and involvement throughout the year). 

From April 24 – May 2, 2010, different businesses, agencies and organizations around Calgary come together to host events, projects and offer free services during a week long celebration of youth.  There’s tons of events – we’re talking youth nights, concerts, sports tournaments, and tons more – happening during Youth Week that are super cheap or free.  Plus, word on the street is that you can win cool prizes at many of the events.

Want to know more?  Look up or to the side – Youth Week’s online home is on YouthAreAwesome.com!  Go to the Youth Week page to check out all the events that you can go to and other cool things happening during the week.  New events will be added almost every day leading up to Youth Week, so make sure to check back often!

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