Book #1: Slammed

The first  book I'll be talking about is called "Slammed", by colleen hoover and is easily one of my favorites!

Slammed is a young adult novel written by Colleen Hoover, and is about the struggle of eighteen year-old Layken Cohen to deal with her mother's terminal cancer, and her love for Will Cooper, her English teacher and neighbor.

When the novel begins, Layken's father has been dead for six months, having died of a heart attack. Julia, Layken's mother, and Kel, Layken's younger brother, move to Julia's hometown in Michigan since they can no longer afford to live in Texas, and so Julia can take a better job. Kel at once befriends Caulder, who lives with his older brother, Will, across the street. Will and Layken hit it off immediately -only later to discover that Will is Layken's teacher. While Layken pushes ahead with their relationship, Will tries to hold it off. He is twenty-one, and graduating from college early. His parents were killed a few years before in an auto accident, and Will has been taking care of his brother since. He has a lot to lose.

All the while, Will teaches Layken about life, as does Layken's mother - who is actually dying of cancer, having moved to Michigan to be near a specialist. Will also teaches Layken about poetry, and about how poetry can be therapeutic and important. Eventually, Layken's mother tells her to go after Will, and to think with her heart instead of her head. Layken does so. When the novel ends, she and Will have been dating for more than a year, and Layken's mother has passed on. But her mother leaves a note for her and her brother, telling them to keep on living, and signing it with her love.

This book will make you cry, laugh then cry again. It just touches your heart in so many ways, and is the opposite of boring. It's a great read and definitely worth your time! A link to an excerpt from the book is posted below. Warning! Once you start, you won't be able to stop.

http://books.simonandschuster.com.au/Slammed/Colleen-Hoover/9781471125676

David Suzuki

Dr. David Suzuki is a scientist, broadcaster, author, and co-founder of the David Suzuki Foundation. He is Companion to the Order of Canada and a recipient of UNESCO's Kalinga Prize for science, the United Nations Environment Program medal, the 2009 Right Livelihood Award, and Global 500. Dr. Suzuki is Professor Emeritus at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver and holds 26 honorary degrees from universities around the world. He has written many articles, one of which is called "Energy shift requires shift in conversion".

This article is discussing how ineffective Canada's energy plan is, saying that we have "no national energy plan". Suzuki talks about the dire need to switch from fossil fuel to a different type of energy source, to undo the ecological upset. He emphasizes on the many horrible events dues to Canada's climate change such as the destruction of $65 billion worth of B.C. trees by mountain pine beetles — once kept under control by winters with temperatures below -30 C for a week or more. The article in whole, is really pushing that the government needs to be aware of these issues and step up their act by using a more efficient source of energy.

The article linked below has some relation to Suzuki's article. It agrees with the article, by saying that fossil fuels are bad for the earth by changing temperature and gives us a new solution, imitating photosynthesis to make energy. Personally, I feel that this new approach is interesting and could work but needs more testing to ensure its reliability.

http://theconversation.com/to-shift-away-from-fossil-fuels-we-need-to-copy-plants-33636

Dora The Explorer Spoof

In Media class this past week, we have been learning about spoofs. A spoof is a humorous imitation of something, Typically a film or a particular genre of film, In which its 
characteristic features are exaggerated for comic effect.

 I've recently come acros a spoof of every childs favorite television show, "Dora the Explorer". For those who don't know about this show, it's basically the adventures of a young girl named Dora, her monkey Boots, Backpack and other animated friends. In each episode, viewers join Dora on an adventure in an animated world set inside a computer. The titular character seeks viewers' help in solving a puzzle or mystery she faces in each episode. 
This spoof is a trailer for a Dora the Explorer movie, which of course is not real. Created by a youtube account called "college humour", the trailer includes the main characters of the hit television show such as Dora, Boots, Swiper and many more! The spoof is funny because at first look, you actually think the trailer is legitimate. It's that good! What made it hilarious to me, was my personal connection to the show. Every teenager like myself who has younger siblings, or even younger cousins know this show way too well for their own liking. To see this show that I am forced to watch all the time with younger cousins, made into a tailer made it very funny to me. What makes it even better, is that the trailer is made with real people not animated characters like in the actual tv show, which had me laughing. To see a an actor about 22 dressed in shorts, a t- shirt and a magical talking back pack is really comical. On top of that, the plot line of the trailer seems so serious you can't help but laugh at how ridiculous the whole thing is. Although the trailer is a complete joke, I'd actually consider watching the movie if it was real. It would be a great laugh! 

Click the link below to watch this trailer for yourself.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TnpTcrtsN3U

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