Welcome to my blog

Hi, welcome to my blog. My name is Fung and I am a secondary school student.
My interests are reading books, and playing outdoor sports. My most favoured sport is football, because it consists of communication and teamwork.
This blog is for saving my school work, and posting educational videos to help myself remember work I have done. Most of it will be written work, although I will post some videos.

Inspirational Quotes

Showing posts with label Life. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Life. Show all posts

Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Competitive Sports Should be Compulsory in Schools

The smell of winning in the air gradually inches closer as you race towards the finish line. One mistake, one minute error, one fault, is all it takes for others’ to finish a step ahead of you. Around the world, many children are trained to be professional athletes. The competitiveness in competitive sports is so intense that it’s not just about physical skills, but also about mental abilities. Life, after all is a game about survival of the fittest. 

Whilst some kids are not born athletes, naturally in their minds they would like to participate and ultimately to be a winner; it is only human nature. In sports, unfortunately there is only one winner - and it is in every human's blood, to be the only one standing on the podium, cheered by the crowds.

First and foremost, participating actively in any competitive arena forms a strong and concrete foundation for physique, cognition and mental infrastructure. With a solid mental training simultaneously built - one can keep their minds calm under intense pressure, which will enhance the performance of the physical side. 

Furthermore, it is unanimous that everybody loves to win and take pride in beating other people, and they certainly enjoy all the benefits that come along with it - fame, pride, honour, monetary gains, self-esteem, etcetera. Inarguably, winning is one of the best satisfactions of being human because it can enlarge an individual's power and in the animal kingdom it could mean territorial rights. Take for example tigers, they fight for territorial rights among each other because naturally, the one with power will be the herd leader and dictates over every other tiger. Professional athletes are not simply trained because of the sport itself, it is their job to be excellent, and in order to be the herd leader like the tigers, they indeed have to go through intense training, hard work, dedication and commitment so that they will be the only one to win. Only the number one spot can give them all the benefits that have been described above. 

Compulsory competitive sports also mimics competition in the real society - where everybody is fearless and is contending for the same thing. For example, people compete for promotions, money, fame, power, self-interest, etcetera. These kinds of competition are no different from competing in sports. They have to go through all the challenges and obstacles in order to achieve their desires. Therefore developing at a young age a strong mental, physical and emotional attitude is crucial for their forthcoming societal needs. They need to be prepared for the intense competition when they become grown ups. On a bigger context, a society without competition will be a society that is not advancing, and we would never be able to live in a better society as time prevails. 

Taking all of the above into account, compulsory sports can enhance people's’ attitude towards their life, as well as their physical, mental and social attributes. Therefore the importance of competitive sports should be acknowledged within schools and be mandatory. 

Saturday, February 18, 2012

Gifts - Fiction

Below is a short story of what I think a so called 'special gift' is. Other peer members of mine wrote about materialistic items such as a toy, car, and so forth. I decided to take a different approach which I find is the ultimate gift. Of course, it is only my opinion and yours may vary from mine. 

Thank you for Your gift. 
GIFT
What is a gift? Ever since we, human kinds have been born have been given gifts. All kinds. Everyone of us have received many many different spectrum of gifts, mundane gifts. As a baby, we have been given our mothers care, little toys, dolls, toy cars, helicopters.....etc. When we move onto different stages in our life,for example, as teenagers, you will be given also a lot of other forms of gifts, such as Xbox’s, clothes, laptops, shoes,watches etc. And as an adult, gifts vary as well. You will be given items such as houses, cars, rings, necklaces, and so forth. Infinite varieties of gifts. But lord oh lord, have you ever wondered, what is the ultimate,special gift? How many of us, you, me, our parents, our neighbors and everyone else on earth have ever wondered, really wondered that life itself is already and indeed a special gift? The ultimate gift.

Without life, this gift, I would not be able to experience being in Central, being in Hong Kong, being on this Earth, being in this Universe, being in existence itself. In fact, there would be nothing to feel, nothing to experience. There would be nothing. Nothing!

Life itself is unique, in fact life as being a human is even more unique. Unique to a degree that thinking about our own existence is already so unique. We, as well as all other existing beings, can feel all kinds of emotions such as fear, anger, pain, happiness, pleasure, satisfaction, hopelessness and desire. Is this not the greatest special gift of all? 

Responsibility
Should this gift which we all have received requires our attention to its responsibility? And if someone gives us any gifts should we not take very good care of it and uses it to enhance ourselves and to everyone and everything around us?

I believe that we definitely do have a huge responsibility to take care of this gift itself, and yet at the same time we do have the responsibility to take care of every other living being (I need not mention that these are also gifts in other forms).  We should therefore not take this special gift for granted. It is unique and every human, every individual has the responsibility to protect this gift -life itself. This special gift is not to be ignored. 

As it is our responsibility to protect ourselves, as well as other  species, (endangered or not), such as sharks, lions, tigers, elephants, rhinos etc., we should really ask ourselves, do we really need to kill and harm these beautiful and graceful species? These beautiful and graceful species are just like you and me, they are also being sent to us as special gifts, to co-exist with us together, as our companion. Yet these species are innocently harmed and killed every day because of greed.

 Sharks for example, are killed only for their sharks fins, and the rest of the carcass is being dumped into the water, leaving the shark to die. Animals such as tigers and lions, their skins are peeled off for profit and left to die. What has happened to human consciousness ? Has this gift from the Creator gone ashtray? In retrospect,and if we think deeply,we as human must take care, and protect other living species as well, if not, everything will and  can fall apart. Say if just sharks were to be extinct, and removed from the food chain, it would affect the ecology of the ocean. In fact, the affect would spread to affect the food chain of humans, and other animals and every other organisms on earth. If all sharks were destroyed and consummated, there would be too much fish, and then plankton would be gone. You may think that if sharks are gone,  there may still be  dolphins and whales. NO no, they won’t exist either as the food chain is already disturbed.The viscous cycle had begun.

Do any of these other special living  do any harm to us? No, they do not, so why should we do such cruel and brutal actions to them, when they bring us no harm. They are just like us, trying to live, to experience and to survive, as another form. They are also trying to experience, like us, this wonderful experience of being in existence itself Thus, we must take the responsibility to protect them. As they are also unique gifts to all of us.

We can protect other human beings, or other beings, by not trespassing what is theirs; things such as their habitats, their nutriment, their survival gears etc.. If we do the above, not only do we make ourselves safe and out of harms way, but we also provide happiness to the everything around us; ultimately leading to  interconnected joy. 

Process of Life
The process of life is different for everyone.

“Most people live life on the path that is set for them. Too afraid to explore any other. But once in a while, special people come along and knock down all the obstacles put in their way. People who realize free will is a gift, you’ll never know how to use it until you fight for it. I think that’s what His real plan is. But maybe, one day, He won’t write the plan. We will.” 

When we are all born, our life may seem predestined. But as being said above, there are some people who push their limits to the utmost, and change what was predestined for them, making their own destiny and history. As humans, it is only  our nature to feel equal as others’ around us; friends, family, teachers, colleagues. But there are people in this world, who push and strive to be different. They love and wish to change history. A good example is Steve Jobs. 

“It’s easier to go down a hill than up, but the view is much better at the top”
Certainly the process of life is different for everyone, but the ultimate statement is not to do harm but do things that  are beneficial to mankind. Yours and mine and Steve Jobs lives are definitely different form each other, but have we noticed that we affect each other and we are all connected.  

There are times in life, where we all have to experience ups and downs. We have diseases, we experience depression and have our dark days, but this is part of life. Some people are born with no arms, no legs, but yet they have no worries, no complaints. 

Another painful aspect of life, are losing people you dearly cherished. People come and go, friends, family, colleagues. Nothing lasts forever, but the process of life is the same. Each of us is unique, and we all are gifts form the Creator.

Fairness in human beings? 
After being endowed with life, can we substantiate fairness? In life, it is fair. What makes it fair is using the power of Now. , the power of Now is to think of the current this moment. To not think of the future, nor the past. Base your decisions on what you wish to occur for the next few minutes. The power of Now is a technique for learning how to live. To really feel what existence is. To totally understand this gift of life.  

To be fair, we all must work together, we must cooperate, and we must work hard. In order for fairness to work, we must try and make our surroundings fairer, by fighting for ourselves. 
To be fair, we must not use people, we must not lie to people, we must consider other peoples well being. We must also not be in it for ourselves, we must look at the bigger picture. 

If we are not fair to each other, countries could fall apart, economies could fall apart, corporations could fall apart as we can see from the current world situations, in politics and  economics .To attain fairness, there are certain qualities that must be involved, such as honesty, commitment, and so forth. Fairness is therefore ultimately important so that life can be sustained, this gift of lifecan be kept forever.

Connectedness
All living organisms are connected to each other one way or another. Each and every single living organism has its own strand of DNA, and their own set of genes, but that is not to say we are not connected, or we are not similar. We are similar, we are all living creatures, living, experiencing. We are all just beings, doing what is in our nature to be existence itself, to experience ourselves as lives.

Connectedness includes communication,and communication could be with anything or anyone. Your parents, teachers, friends, pet dogs, cats, squirrels,anything. A good thing to keep in mind, is to act in a nice and respectable manner to everyone and everything you encounter, treat them as you would like them to treat you; in other words; be nice and do no harm, then they will return the favor. 

Then all life forms as gifts are blessed.

Awakening
All of us are awake everyday, but I would say most of us are not awakened to truly understand how to manage life itself. As an awakened individual, it is therefore important for us to understand that this network of connections must be upheld. It is like an butterfly effect, where something that happened across the continent could affect you. which it will.


There are definitely causes and consequences in this world and in physics, this is called action and reaction, every action has its consequences. As awakened individuals, we must keep this in balance and check, so that everybody will be able to understand we are all connected, and therefore horrible consequences can be avoided, because again, every action has a reaction; if you do something bad, something bad will come to you, if you do something good, something good will come back to you. 

To be able to be given this gift as a being, as a human is a miracle. And thank God for giving me the ultimate.

This is Wonderful!

Saturday, February 4, 2012

The World is Grey - Values

Here is a speech that I wrote for class. The speech talks about fairness - thus I titled it 'The World is Grey' since it represents the middle, between white and black. Sort of 'good & evil'. I used an example from the Justice lecture presented by Harvard University about the car track as part of my speech.


Quite often, I hear people complaining that’s not fair.

To be quite frank with you, the world was never fair, and never will be. People try and make it as fair as possible, but never can make fairness. People can only make the world fairer.

Fairness also is determined by how you define ‘fairness’. Being fair to yourself does not necessarily mean you are being fair to others. Fairness would mean for everyone to be equal. Does the world function on equality? Certainly not, and neither do we want it to function on equality.

Fairness does not equal equality. We are all equal because we are humans. But at the same time it is not fair, because we are all born in different sizes, different intelligence, different social levels etc. For example, nepotism exists in this world. It is only natural. If I were a doctor, would I make my father wait in line? If I were a concert manager would I give priority tickets to my friends?

I would.
You would, everyone would.

As a conclusion, let me post you the following scenario: You are a driver of the train, and you come to a fork in the train track. You can either turn left, or turn right. If you turn left, you will kill 5 people. If you turn right, you will kill 1 person.

What would you do?

Is it fair?

IS IT FAIR?

知足長樂

Here I have what I myself consider my first well written Chinese piece of work. It talks about what makes me happy and it gives two examples of what an happy and unhappy person would do. The two examples are based on a person who is wealthy, and one that is poor - the different ways in which people think.


“知足常樂”

中國人為什麼要說知足長樂這句話呢?

我知足長樂的原因是因為我很幸福,我每一天起床的時候我問自己快不快樂。中國人會說知足長樂所以我每一天都會快樂。最普通的東西我都有:一對眼睛,鼻子,口,雙腿,雙手,每一天都有地方住,能上學,洗澡,有清水喝,衣服穿,等等。

“不知足的感覺”

我每一天起床的時候,我每一分鐘都在想東西不夠,要多一點兒,什麼都要想多一點兒。我現在已經有兩對鞋子,但我想要買多五對。我已經有一個勞斯萊斯,但我還想要多兩家法拉利。我已經吃了兩碗魚翅,我還要多三個鮑魚。為什麼我每一天多這樣想呢?為什麼我每一天都不快樂?我買了那麼多東西,我還不快樂!

讓人快樂的不一定是有錢或物質化的東西,而且也不是在上面提出的東西。讓人知足長樂的是一重心態。知足的感覺已經令我很快樂。

Saturday, January 28, 2012

Trip to Beijing!

Do you like traveling? Because I sure don’t like going down to those big airports and mounting on to those fast big jets!

Anyways, you better pay attention and listen up carefully, because I’m going to tell you a secret that not many people know about me; Well, I’m actually acrophobic and scared of heights … Remember not to tell anyone!

When I looked down, I had the sense that I was going to fall down. I found myself at least 50 feet off the ground. Seriously, that is creepy… 

I was in a Chinese made orange cable car. As soon as I tread onto the cable car, my step made the car sway from one end to the other started making me lose balance to wave around as I sat on one side, I was scared, and when my dad and my dad’s friend got on, they both sat on the other side of the cable car, I felt even more scared, in fact I felt hopeless. Them both weighing at least 60 kg each and me just weighing under 40 kg sitting on one side? The cable car started to bank backwards, and as I tried to look at objects at far away distances, I felt like vomiting. But they both were happily laughing and “giggling” their heads off, I just wanted to hug my dad… Although that is pretty humiliating for an 11 year old kid hugging his father? If any of my friends saw that, they would just start to provoke me. 

Anyways, the ride only took 5 minutes, although it felt like half an hour to me, it was disgraceful. Oh, excuse me for not clarifying where I was traveling; I was on a trip to go see one of the top ten great wonders of the world! In China, you are “required” to go see at least one famous historical structure, for example: the Great Wall. As we got up to the Great Wall, the landscape was breathtaking; everywhere was covered in natural habitat as if it were pristine. As we stepped onto the great wall, I asked myself: “how was it ever possible to bring such hefty bricks up these steep and narrow mountains”? We looked across to see the other side of the Great Wall. And this just blew my mind, all I saw was steep perpendicular staircases, and it would just go on and on and on. It was just steps of millions. 

As my dad took his camera out to take a picture, I saw a child and his mother speedily walking downstairs. At that point, I thought that I was a psychic; I knew that the child was going to stumble; he was just like a little 5-year-old kid running around on slippery steps. Two seconds later, all I saw was just a little rock rolling down 3 sets of staircases and the mother running after. I personally wouldn’t have run down that staircase. 

When I looked to see that everything was black, I knew something was wrong, so just to check, I rubbed my eyes to see if it were just I. But it wasn’t, I looked up to see a big patch of cloud and a splash in my face, my face was wet. Well, what can we say? Life is unpredictable eh? Anything can happen. As we carried our tiresome walk to another depot (another structure such as: weaponry room, cooking room, sleeping area etc.) I realized that this place hasn’t been touched ever since it was built, none of it was, even the tiles on the floor, they were all still intact, but some of them have cracks or had been smashed. As we were paying too much attention to the stunning terrain, my dad almost tripped because of a broken fractured slate tile. 

Anyways after we arrived to our designated location, the watchtower, we went to the roof, and stared at the million-stair staircase, and took great photos, especially with my dad’s friends Leica camera that was encased with a leather cover. Suddenly a stranger (probably from a country from Asia) came up and asked us graciously in English for us to help him take a photo. It’s surprisingly wonderful how people around the whole world can speak English, right? But I think someday Pu Tong Hua will take over the language of English used in the world, and will be the most popular language in use! I especially noticed, all the tourists up at the Great Wall were from foreign countries such as: Russia, England and the US. But they were all expensive: Canon, Sony, and all of them in possession of professional cameras!

Well, we had to go home some time; we couldn’t stay forever although I wished I could! So we began our final descent down back to where we came from, and I had the same instinct as coming up, just even worse. So this time, my dad had come to sit with me this time, so I felt quite safe but at the same time scared.  

What do you think about China? Do you think that you would like to stay in China for a living? I personally wouldn't want to stay in China to live, even for future endeavors. If you look at the people: spitting on the floor, mad driving on the streets? I’ve even seen a dead dog lying around the corner of a street! But I would like to be related to China in some sort of way for business because I am pretty sure that China will be the future market! A market that includes all items: cars, cameras, food, eyeglasses, blankets etc.  

That night, we intentionally reserved a table at a restaurant at the Grand Hyatt Hotel. In fact, do you know what Beijing cuisine is famous for? Because when you visit this restaurant, it will blow your mind! Beijing cuisine is famous for eating Peking Duck “北京烤鴨”and Peking dumplings “北京羊肉水餃”. That restaurant name was pretty funny… Guess what the name was? Made In China! The restaurant decoration was pretty much Western and there was an open kitchen where you could see the chef’s cooking! All the fresh aroma, from meat to vegetable could be sensed from the whole entire restaurant. Our reservation table was right in front of the dumpling counter; they would make the dumplings right in front of us. Good way to learn how to make good and tasty dumplings! Lets skip to the yummy and tasty bit. When our Peking duck arrived, we had a chef cut it up live, in front of us. And when we received our duck, all of us just plucked for the skin, the reason why was; the skin was the most tasty part, it just melted instantly as soon as it would come in contact with your tongue. When we asked for our cheque 買單, I took a little peek at it, and it wasn’t that expensive compared to Hong Kong! 

Driving in China is one of the lousiest places to drive on earth, especially on 长安街. Chang An Street is the densest area in Beijing. The road simply is just an uncurving road; it goes on for miles and miles. If you were in the middle of rush hour, you will have taxis to buses pushing and honking their way to every minuscule space you could imagine. A ride supposing to only take 15 minutes home became a disaster of becoming 45 minutes. Terrible isn’t it? What is the difference between driving in Hong Kong (apart from terrible driving)? Well, there are only two main differences, and they are; that the driver seat would be on the left side instead of the right, and that you have to drive on the right side of the road and not the left side. But does it make a significant difference? I doubt it makes a difference, but I guess that’s the way the Chinese government prefers it! 

Thursday, December 1, 2011

CAS Week Revisited

About 3 weeks ago, our school attended an event called CAS. You may or may not have heard about it, CAS stands for;
Creativity, Action and Service. As students progress through their secondary years and reach about Year 11, they will be required to do CAS, 50 hours for each.

Year groups under Year 11, teachers and staff aim to assist and guide students towards what is coming for them in the upcoming years.

Most of the time, CAS is done as camp; a week from where you leave all of your terrible daily habits; computers, television, telephone, etc.

Camping is a good way to 'promote' CAS, as there are certain skills needed for CAS; such as teamwork, respect, communication, leadership, risk-taking, sacrifice, etc.

During camp, classmates were challenged to do activities such as: Surfing, canyoning, hiking, building camp-fires, developing first-aid techniques, etc.

In these types of activities, you just can't work on your own. You have to use all available resource around you. Every pair of hands help.

At first, my attitude towards this trip was: Why do we have to do this again? We did this last year.. This year it's so much more expensive, and we don't have as much fun... Its unhygienic, etc.

But after I came back, I had brought back with my a whole new set of skills, new knowledge, and a whole new respect for my peers, and the people around me.

Monday, October 10, 2011

Attributes of an Entrepreneur

There are many many many, entrepreneurs who fail. But if you become a successful entrepreneur, you can be a billionaire! But an entrepreneurs journey is painful, and lonely. Are you that type of person with these characteristics? :

Famous inspirational entrepreneurs who I personally  am inspired by are:
•Sir Richard Branson (Known for his own enterprise Virgin)
• Duncan Bannatyne. Net-worth £430m.
• Sam Walton, although deceased Sam Walton started from scratch to build up an empire of Wal-Mart.
• Steve Jobs, deceased, passed away few days ago. He said in one of his speeches, 'Stay foolish, Stay Hungry'.


Even though you may have the attributess of an entrepreneur, are you capable of becoming one? An entrepreneur has to require quite a lot of luck. Lets take Sir Richard Branson for instance, narrowly escaping death 4 times. Once on the Virgin Atlantic Challenger attempting to break a world record of crossing the Atlantic Ocean. On his second attempt on the Atlantic Ocean crossing, in reward for the Blue Riband he successfully beat the world record. His other 3 death stories all come along in a hot air balloon. Once trying to fly around the world in a helium-propelled hot air balloon, and twice trying to cross the Pacific Ocean.

But not only has he managed to narrowly escape his fate, he has also successfully started his company Virgin Airlines, even though previous airline, Lakers Airways was brought to an abrupt failure in competing against (at the time) British Airways. But Virgin Airlines successfully overcame all odds, and astonished the whole world, including Sir Freddie Laker himself.

Thursday, July 14, 2011

If I Was A Superhero

Have you ever thought of what you would like to be in the future when you get older? What kind of occupation would you like to be? Lot of parents would want their children to be doctors, lawyers, dentists, jobs that make a lot of cash... But have you thought of wanting to be a superhero? It may sound stupidly fiction, but its just funny and creative you know!  All the superpowers are quite silly but that was just made for the sake of fun.. So enjoy as usual!

ReSpawn

I have the ability to seek through walls, have infrared vision; I can fly 10 times the speed of sound. My fists are as powerful as a cannon. I have the power of staying under water for 4 hours… And I do not have to eat for 15 days without water either. I have ears, which will pick up every word you say from a 5-kilometer radius, so watch what you say! My brain is made of organic material, and has faster calculations and speed than any computer on the planet.

I also can lift up heavy weight objects such as a cargo container. But the most important thing is, I will protect my country at all costs.

And to all those bad villains out there;
I will look for you,I will find you,
And I will put you behind bars,
If that's not enough for you, I will destroy you.

Friday, July 8, 2011

Stillness Speaks - Eckhart Tolle

I realize that I have posted a post that has the same title as above. But this is the other prose I was talking about. And the prose was taken out of the first page of this book. This is the other piece I had to recite:

When you lose touch with inner stillness, you lose touch with yourself. When you lose touch with yourself, you lose yourself in the world. 


Your innermost sense of self, of who you are, is inseparable from stillness. This is the I Am that is deeper than name and form.


                                                    ~
Stillness is your essential nature. What is stillness? The inner space or awareness in which the words on this page are being perceived and become thoughts. Without that awareness, there would be no perception, no thoughts, no world.


You are that awareness, disguised as a person.


                                                     ~
The equivalent of external noise is the inner noise of thinking. The equivalent of external silence is inner stillness.


Whenever there is some silence around you – listen to it. That just means notice it. Pay attention to it. Listening to silence awakens the dimensions of stillness within yourself, because it is only through stillness that you can be aware of silence.


See that in the moment of noticing the silence around you, you are not thinking. You are aware, but not thinking. 


                                                    ~
When you become aware of silence, immediately there is that state of inner still alertness. You are present. You have stepped out of thousands of years of collective conditioning. 


                                                    ~
Look at a tree, a flower, a plant. Let your awareness rest upon it. How still they are, how deeply rooted in Being. Allow nature to teach you stillness. 



I understand that some readers will not necessarily like this prose, as the book is a spiritual and in a way religious book which not every reader likes to read. Eckhart Tolle teaches you how to be happy in life. The book gives you a good feeling to feel calm in any circumstances. 


Hope you enjoyed it, but I do understand some readers don't like such books. Thanks! 



Monday, July 4, 2011

The Charge of The Light Brigade

For IL ( I understand that for almost all posts I start with For English... For ICT... For Drama... and what not) but please bare with me for one last time. Anyways, For IL we were to recite 2 pieces of 2 minute texts. One prose, and one poem.

I chose the poem The Charge of The Light Brigade (not that I knew it or had recited it already.) But because I remembered from the movie 'The Blind Side' Sean Tuohy supposedly Michael Oher's biological father read out the first 30 seconds of this poem. And when I watched the movie it really was a moving and  a little emotional story for me. And I remembered the poem name and it was interesting how he read the poem out aloud and explained it to Michael and applied it to a American football context.

The poem is written by Alfred Lord Tennyson, and it is in a way dedicated to the men who fought in The Battle of Balaclava on October 25th 1854 in the Crimean War.

The poem goes like this:
Half a league, half a league,
Half a league onward,
All in the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.
"Forward the Light Brigade!
Charge for the guns!" he said:
Into the valley of Death 
Rode the six hundred.

"Forward the Light Brigade!"
Was there a man dismay'd?
Not tho' the soldier knew
Someone had blunder'd:
Theirs not to make reply,
Theirs not to reason why,
Theirs but to do and die:
Into the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.

Cannon to the right of them,
Cannon to the left of them,
Cannon in front of them

Volley'd and thunder'd;
Storm'd at with shot and shell,
Boldly they rode and well,
Into the Jaws of Death,
Into the Mouth of Hell
Rode the six hundred.

Flash'd all their sabres bare,
Flash'd as they turned in air,
Sabring the gunners there,
Charging an army, while 
All the world wonder'd:
Plunged into the battery-smoke
Right through the line they broke;
Cossack and Russian 
Reel'd from the Sabre stroke
Shatter'd and sunder'd.
Then they rode back, but not
Not the six hundred

Cannon to right of them,
Cannon to left of them,
Cannon behind them
Volley'd and thunder'd
Storm'd at with shot and shell,
While horse and hero fell,
They that had fought so well
Came thro' the Jaws of Death
Back from the Mouth of Hell,
All that was left of them,
Left of six hundred.

When can their glory fade?
O' the wild charge they made!
All the world wondered.
Honor the charge they made,
Honor the Light Brigade,
Noble six hundred.

Hope you enjoyed the poem. I will also post the other piece of prose that I had to memorize around tomorrow. 




Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Shakespeare

In English class, we are constantly getting assessments (approximately 1 every week or so...). This time, we had to research about Shakespeare. Before starting any type of assessment or any piece of work.

You always have to consider the PAF. PAF stands for purpose, audience and form.

In this case, the P was to inform.
Audience - was Y6-Y8 school children who had no understanding of Shakespeare whatsoever.
Form - we were asked to present our work in the form of a poster.

Born           April 23 1564
                  Stratford-upon-Avon,
                  Warwickshire, England
Died           April 23 1616 (aged 52)
                  Stratford-upon-Avon
                  Warwickshire, England
Occupation Playwright, poet,
                   actor
Spouse      Anne Hathaway (m. 1582-1616)
Children    Susanna Hall
                  Hamnet Shakespeare
                  Judith Quiney
Relative     John Shakespeare (father)
                 Mary Shakespeare (mother)

Summary  Born in 1582, there is no primary evidence revealing his life until he was 18. Neither is there any evidence of his existence. Many say he is a playwright, poet and actor. Writing 37 plays, and over 154 sonnets.

Did you know?
•Shakespeare was 3 of 8 siblings. But he was considered the oldest because the 2 before him had died.
•Based on textual evidence in the sonnets and some plays, some believe that Shakespeare was bisexual.
•More than 80 spelling variations are recorded for Shakespeare's name, from “Shappere” to “Shaxberd.”
•Shakespeare never spelt his name as “William Shakespeare” in his signatures
Shakespearean Themes:  
Envy
Jealousy
Perverse jokes
Romance
Hatred

Macbeth:
The three witches tell Macbeth that he will become Thane of Cawdor, Glamis and the king. Soon after, he becomes the Thane. He and his wife decide they need to kill the king. Macbeth kills the king, his wife frames the guards to the murder by leaving the daggers Macbeth used in their hands. The kings sons run away in fear of Macbeth. Macbeth gets crowned king then hired murders to kill his threat, Banquo. Macbeth is haunted by Banquo’s ghost at his party, he then goes back to the witches for help and he sees three things...
1. a bloody baby saying "beware Macduff"
2. a bloody helmet saying that he cant be killed by anyone born of a woman
3. a child with a crown and a tree branch saying that he does not need to worry till the Birnam woods moves to Dunsinane.
Lady Macbeth kills herself because of guilt. Macduff and the army head for Macbeth's castle. Macbeth is killed by Macduff who was born by C-section which was not considered to be born of a woman fulfilling the witches predictions. Macbeth dies, order was restored when Malcolm was crowned as the new King of Scotland.

Time Era (Elizabethan Age):
Food - Depending on whether you are upper of lower class person. You eat different sorts of foods.
Breakfast, Dinner, Supper
Lower class: Porridge, bread, beer, ¼ lb of meat. Beer is low alcohol.
Upper class: The difference between the 2 are simply the richness of the ingredients. Not in terms of the money, but in terms of quality and quantity. The upper class would be served with more food. They mainly ate spicy dishes, or very sweet dishes.

Life: The Elizabethan Age was ruled by a monarchy.
•There was no schools for girls. They were only allowed to be home schooled
•Women could not become doctors or lawyers.
•They had no political power (apart from Queen Elizabeth), and could not vote.
•They were not allowed to act in theatres
•Every family is expected to attend Church every Sunday
Entertainment: Entertainment to people of the Elizabethan Age was key. Entertainment was something they celebrated. Entertainment didn’t necessarily have to be some fancy stuff like watching movies (they don’t have movies theatres), it could simply be attending someones wedding.
Feasts, banquets, fairs, plays, festivals, dancing, tournaments, games, sports, animal sports, hunting, hawking, etc.

Modern Shakespeare:

Shakespeare is a giant impact on our modern day life, he’s everywhere! Even if he was alive over 400 years ago, he has influenced and formed the world we live in today. Shakespeare contributed to our modern day English, he came up with creative words and phrases, and was known as the master manipulator of language.

Othello
  • A Double Life (1947)
  • All Night Long (1962)
  • Catch My Soul (1974)
King Lear
  • A Thousand Acres (1997)
  • King of Texas (2002)
  • Ran (1985)
The Tempest
  • Forbidden Planet (1956)
  • Yellow Sky (1943)
The Taming of the Shrew
  • Kiss Me Kate (1948)
Its Hamlet
  • Let the Devil Wear Black (1999)
  • Strange Brew (1983)
Macbeth
  • Men of Respect (1991)
  • Scotland, PA (2001)
Henry IV and Henry V
  • My Own Private Idaho (1991)
Romeo and Juliet
  • Romeo Must Die (2000)
  • West Side Story (1961)
Twelfth Night
  • She’s the Man (2006)
Comedy of Errors
  • The Boys from Syracuse (1940)
Richard III
  • Tower of London (1939)
A Midsummer’s Night Dream
  • Were the World Mine (2008)
  • Authors borrow plots (Mama Day by Gloria Naylor)
  • Children’s TV reworks his ideas (Duck Tales)
  • Adult TV alludes to his work (Star Trek and Frasier)
  • Cartoonists play with his words (Calvin and Hobbes and Garfield)
  • Referred to in films (Clueless)
  • Advertisements borrow his snappier phrases for captions and voice-overs
Globe Theatre:

What is the Globe Theatre?

The Globe Theatre is an Elizabethan theatre built in London 1599 by Shakespeare’s playing company/The Lord Chamberlain’s Men. The Globe has a capacity of 3,000 people with seating for the High-Class to the groundlings/low class.

Why is it called ‘The Globe’?

'The Globe' was said to be a reference to the fact that the actors create a different world for their audience.

Where is it?

On June 29 1613 the Globe theatre went up in flames during a performance of Henry the Eighth. A cannon was misfired during the performance resulting in the wooden beams lighting on fire and burning down the place. A modern reconstruction of the Globe Theatre was built and opened in 1997 about 230 meters away from the site of the original theatre and it was then closed 28 years later in 1642.

Why was it popular?

The Globe Theatre is popular because of William Shakespeare and his theatre group’s involvement. In England, acting wasn't recognized as a profession until 1572 because the theatre was considered disrespectful.

How is the theatre different from today?

The Globe Theatre is the oldest theatre to be made. Nowadays, theatres have changed completely. Theatres now are sheltered, and don’t have the possibility of getting wet by rain. During the Elizabethan Era, theatres did not have electric lights to light up the stage, they had to use natural light from the sky to light up the theatre, making it more special than it is today. This mainly is because of the evolution of technology. As I have related before from the Elizabethan Era, women were not allowed to take part in acting. But nowadays, the law has changed and women have their rights.

Bibliography:

http://library.thinkquest.org/25592/shakespe1.htm
http://shakespeare.palomar.edu/timeline/timeline.htm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQGATTeg1Os
http://absoluteshakespeare.com/guides/summaries/macbeth/macbeth_summary.htm
http://facts.randomhistory.com/2009/01/11_shakespeare.html
http://www.elizabethan-era.org.uk/elizabethan-daily-life.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shakespeare
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabethan
http://www.elizabethan-era.org.uk/elizabethan-entertainment.htm
http://www.shakespeare-online.com/biography/whystudyshakespeare.html
http://www.globe-theatre.org.uk/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQGATTeg1Os