Saturday 18 May 2013

The Fate of Arsenal

Another season of England's finest Football league is coming to an end, but this year, unlike last's Arsenal find themselves in a difficult position. With the elusive 4th place (which guarantee's another season of Champions League football) just within their grasp, Arsenal must win their important match against relegation candidates Newcastle United. Unlike last season, Arsenal this year have Tottenham just a hairpin behind them, so an Arsenal draw this weekend and a Tottenham win would put Tottenham into the Champions League for the first time in the 21st century, and would see Arsenal out of the Champions League after 17 consecutive years.

Manchester United have already reclaimed the title after Manchester City snatched it away last year thanks to Sergio Aguero's injury time goal, so their Champions League spot is sealed. Second and third place teams Manchester City and Chelsea have both secured Champions League, leaving only one spot left for either Arsenal or Tottenham to take.

Arsenal have been on a good streak over the last couple games, trying to end the season strong, while Newcastle have been struggling to keep up with last years magnificent form. But with Newcastle fighting hard to avoid relegation, you might never know what tricks they may pull off that would catch Arsenal off guard. Tottenham vs. Sunderland could also prove to be a tricky fixture, but with Gareth Bale proving to lift Tottenham out of their misery, it is most probably an easy Tottenham win.

This year's Champions League fate lies in Arsenals own hands, a win would guarantee what many fans feared would not happen back in January. It is all up to them, and no Champions League will prove to be a huge disappointment.

Wednesday 27 February 2013

What is the What?


Dave Egger’s What is the What? Is truly a breathtaking yet understandable book that rewrites the hardships, pain and terror of Valentino Deng, a member of the thousands of Lost Boys who ventured over deserts and mountains, lions and crocodile’s, to eventually make his way to the United States. You simply cannot read this book without it somehow changing the way you think. Dave Eggers writes it in such a way that it provokes you to really think about the lives of many African people.

Personally I found that reading with a deadline is tough and not as enjoyable as reading it with your own pace. Moreover, having to every once in a while stop (especially during interesting parts where you just want to keep on reading), grab a sticky and write down something sometimes ruins the moment that you were in a minute ago. Having to annotate parts of the book sort of takes down the intensity that Dave Eggers might have wanted you to feel.

Despite what many people are commenting about this book, I actually quite enjoying reading it although sometimes the vivid details can be a little bit overwhelming, and hard to digress. I do not mean to be cruel or anything but I enjoyed the parts about his journey to Ethiopia, the dreams and hopes he had, and what pushed him to, unlike many of his friends, hold on and survive to eventually find himself in America.   The walk sort of makes it like an adventure story instead of a biography even though some parts can be a little bit hard to swallow (e.g. when William K dies).
Back in America, I like the parts where he talks about his friends like Achor Achor and Tabitha, his girlfriend. The way that he expresses his fondness for her and talks about the satisfaction of being with her adds a lot of flavor to this book (especially when the book goes back to when he is living in America).

Overall this book has been something that I truly do enjoy reading, despite having some moments that lack the intensity that other parts of the book has. What is the What has been a book that I have liked since the beginning and hopefully will continue like that until I finish it.

Tuesday 5 February 2013

Is Blogging a useful tool in the Classroom?

Blogging is a useful tool in an english class which in many cases will lead to positive outcomes. If one person is committed and loves to blog, many times this can have an extremely positive outcome, because when you blog, you are improving yourself. When people blog, they search the dictionary for words to use that may make their writing more elaborate, or even search world news to find ideas that you could possibly blog about. In addition, blogging is essentially writing an ongoing narrative about a certain topic, and by doing this you are improving your basic writing skills. The more you write, the better you get. On the other hand, if you have a blog but you rarely blog on it, this would become a problem and a colossal waste of time for yourself and the teachers who are trying to incorporate blogging into your daily english class. I feel that blogging could become especially helpful when there is something wrong going in your life (especially during teenage years), and you just need to express your feelings. You could do that by blogging, and if you are lucky other people out there are feeling the same thing or have experienced it and could help you out. Blogging could also improve one's relationship with another person, even in the same class. When you blog and others read it, they could find out much more about your personality, likes and dislikes which would strengthen your relationship with classmates and peers. I ultimately believe that blogging is a great tool which has a lot of advantages and can really help you out in many different aspects. Blogging can really strengthen bonds between you and others and can help you through tough times, and many times will lead to you being a happier person.

*Not complete yet*

Monday 14 January 2013

2013 Ballon D'or


Another year has gone by, another year of our precious childhood gone, and where many will be looking for new opportunities to start fresh, have resolutions and plans for the coming year, the football diehards love the new year as it is the time FIFA (Fédération Internationale de Football Association) unveils the supreme World 11. If you are unaware of
what I am talking about, every year FIFA releases the top 11 players who have performed spectacularly over the last year and the best wins the ultimate prize, the Ballon d’Or. All the players who are named in the World XI are the top in their position, no matter what league or what nationality.
Lionel Messi, just like the past 4 years has won the all elusive Ballon d’Or for his stunning 91 goals in a single season. The prize was undoubtedly his since he first stepped foot into the Kongresshaus in Zurich, but what triggered a lot of questions from viewers around the world was that the remaining 10 were all (just like Messi) from the Spanish league.
You may argue and say that although there are all from the same league, they might just be that talented in football and that is why they were chosen for the top 11, but thousands if not millions would disagree. Take Gerard Pique, Spanish center back playing for FC Barcelona and his national team. 2012 was what many would argue his worst season, starting off with an injury which put his starting place in Barcelona into contention, and after finally returning having a bad season overall. Despite all these negative aspects, he still finds himself once again in FIFA’s World 11. Next in line is Dani Alves, Brazilian right back who plays also for FC Barcelona. He started off the 2012 campaign by breaking a collarbone, and after returning to the team, his form got increasingly worse until there were speculations that he would leave the club sometime during 2012. And regardless of any of this, he finds himself in the World 11 when he honestly didn’t deserve it.
The list goes on and on about players that did not deserve to be in the spectacular World 11, of course FIFA cannot get it all correct, but in every almost every single position of the pitch, there were better options they could have chose. PSG’s Thiago Silva had a staggering season with AC Milan during the 2012 campaign which led to his being sold to Paris Saint German (PSG) for a fee of around 42 Millions euro’s, and yet he was not even mentioned in the World 11.
There were so many players that could have arguably had better seasons than this years Ballon d’Or contenders which is what caused many to wonder if FIFA really made the right decision basing their team around 2 clubs, Real Madrid and FC Barcelona (with the exception of Falcao, also in the Spanish League).

Messi for the third time in a row wining the all elusive Ballon d'Or

Tuesday 30 October 2012

Being Single Minded

Just this morning I watched a very interesting "Ted Talks" for the first time in my life, and the topic that day was about the advantages and disadvantages of being single minded. Chimamanda Adichie, a Nigerian woman went up on stage and gave very good examples on how being single minded could make someone have the wrong facts and ideas, and I completely agree with her. One of her best points was how when she went to college in the US, her roommate, before even conversing with her already felt pity for her. The roommate felt pity because She was a single minded person, who must have read one book about Africa, possibly in a dark light and because of that book, the Roommate's view of all African people was identical. The roommate believed that all were poor, had hard and tough lives and were always close to starving. This is wrong, because although there may be some African's who live like this, it is not all. I agree with Chimamanda Adichie that if someone stops being single minded, they can "regain a sense of paradise."


Wednesday 10 October 2012

Review on English Book

Over the last two days, I have been reading a novel called Mutation, which is part of a series called The Phoenix Files. Only after reading the first chapter did I notice that the book did not give a basic introduction of the main character, the location and what was going on. I finally noticed that this was the third book in the series, but I found it enjoyable and wanted to continue and maybe pick up what happend in the last two books.
The story already started off taking place in a cemetery where a funeral was going on, but the death of the victim was actually caused by the person who was giving a very solemn speech about this man. The main character in this case is the only person in Phoenix (a city) who actually knows the real story, about how Shackleton, the big boss of a company where everybody works at murdered the poor man. All of a sudden, a huge explosion suddenly happens, and a massive fire breaks out and soon enough the whole cemetery will be besieged. Jordan, the main character curiously stayed back to find out what was really going on, while everybody was heading back to their homes to be safe. She overhears Shackleton and one of the main officers discussing how to tell this incident to the citizens of Phoenix, and eventually concluded to tell everybody it was set up by them...
After reading this part, I got hooked to the book. This basically lures you to read more to find out who are these (or this) mysterious people that Shackleton was talking about, and how Jordan is going to somehow save Phoenix or the world from what is about to happen next.

Related Character




I was not in class today but looking at other people's blog posts, I sort of guessed that we were writing about characters that is abnormal and somehow relates to us. When I pondered about this task, I almost immediately thought about Squidward. In case you do not know who this legend is, he is basically a short tempered, easily annoyed octopus. In some cases I feel that I sort of relate to him, because when I need to concentrate or want people to concentrate, anyone who makes the slightest sound will get on my nerves. Please do not think of me in such a negative way now because only during important situations I act like this. Of course I am not all day grumpy and reticent, and just like Squidward (every couple hundred years) I am also sometimes really happy.