Celebrate Learning

     There are many strategies for learning and many ways to help you improve your grades.  I have decided to go with the topic of strategies for increasing student studies.  Many people are having trouble with there homework and tests and quizes in college yet can not find ways to improve it or bring their grades up in a timely manner.  One thing that continues to get students is that they are taking very bad notes and they are missing important and crucial parts of the work for their studys and without going to someone else in the class for help, which is very hard to do if you find out that you are missing those important and crucial parts while you are at home studying for a test, because you will not have anyones number.  That is where the Hybrid class idea came into play.  A hybrid class is assentially a class that small parts of the class are done actually in the classroom and the rest is online on the computer over the internet.  With this advanced way of teaching, it becomes a lot easier on the student.  The student only has to go to actual class a few times during the semester, and then they can simply get up in the morning to log online, in their pajamas I might add, in the morning to be in class over the internet.  Now granted, you still have to actually be in class online at the right time but this also allows for the student to replay some of the leactures over and over again to insure that they get all the information that was covered in class.  Studies showed that students did a lot better in a hybrid class than they did in a normal class.  Their fewer people failing the class and a greater percentage of the students getting 3.5 and 4.0 grades.

The Best Movie Ever! Part 2

     While driving his motorcycle up the path to the president’s house, Cloud receives two more messages, the first being Barret bragging about striking a huge amount of oil and that he will be up to see Marlene very soon, and the second was Tifa again, saying that Reno called again, that he sounded strange, and to be careful.  As he walks in the door he is immediately confronted by Reno, side steps, and then locks him outside like he was a dog.  Rude, who is a tall, balled, sharp looking man who always is found wearing a black suit, black sunglasses, and carries a metal extending rod, walks in the room and pulls out the extend-able rod, but Cloud, who has beaten these goons to a pulp many times before, anticipated it and countered Rude’s attempt.  Rude, knowing that he is obviously outmatched, then stands down.  Next, Rufus Shinra rolls in on his chair very pleased to see that Cloud has not lost his touch in the last few years.  Rufus Shinra is the current owner of the Shinra Electric Power Company as is a very strong willed man, but he is currently covered in a white robe and will not completely reveal himself until later in the movie.  The scene switches to a flashback of the resulting explosion of his and Cloud’s last battle 2 years ago, but quickly changes back.  The two get into a small argument that finally leads to Rufus asking Cloud for assistance.  With the question in Cloud’s mind the discussion leads to Kadaj and then Mother.  In the middle of their little chat, Reno continually interrupts them from outside.  Cloud gets annoyed enough with him and kicks the door behind him, meaning for him to shut up.  at the end of the scene, Cloud is on the verge of considering the job when Reno goes and blows it by saying “Come on Cloud, think about it.  Together we can rebuild Shinra.”  With no hesitation at all, he declines the offer and walks out with the door closing behind him.

     The door reopens to Tifa and Marlene walking into the abandoned church in the middle of Sector 6 Slums.  It is the very same church that Cloud fell off the Mako Reactor No. 5 into, landed in the patch of flowers centered in the main gathering area, and first met Aerith.  It is also the current place where Cloud lives.  The two take a quick look around the room and shortly find a white bandage of Cloud’s.  It is the same as Denzil has and Tifa quickly realizes that Cloud is infected by Geostigma.  Tifa then tries to get Marlene to go home but Marlene Doesn’t want to leave without Cloud, so the two decide to wait for him.  The scene then switches back to the very same room Cloud left earlier.

     Reno and Rude hit the floor very badly beaten.  “Boy do I hate liars!”  Kadaj then walks past the two weaklings over to the window where Rufus is currently sitting in his chair.  They start talking about the Geostigma, Mother, and The Reunion.  The Reunion is the gathering of all Jenova’s cells to one specific spot and/or entity.  At the end of there little chat, Kadaj reveals a very surprising twist; he greatly resembles the great Sephiroth.  You also find out during the talk that Rufus Shinra is also infected with Geostigma.

Note: This is not the end of the movie. only about the first 20 minutes.  I highly recommend that if you liked the first part, to finish the movie through Youtube, it only gets better.  Here is the link to the second part of the movie:

                           http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vVmO6YAURlg&feature=related

The Best Movie Ever! Part 1

     The best movie ever, at least in my opinion, is the movie “Final Fantasy Advent Children,” also known as “Final Fantasy 7: Advent Children.”  The movie starts off up near the top of the world in a place called Gaea’s Cliff, a huge crater in the planet.  The Turks, a special-ops type of military branch of Shinra Company, is looking for something in the crater when they get ‘interupted’.  Runo, one of the Turks and a spiky red-haired back-talking goon of a pawn, rushes in with a helicopter to aid his allies but gets there too late and is forced to leave without landing after acquiring the ‘object’ that they were looking for.  Then, because many have not played the game, basically the background story, a narration from Marlene, a little girl, helps to fill in many questions that will pop up eventually later in the movie and from the past events prior to the current situations. Marlene is the daughter of Dyne and is orphaned, along with Denzil, a young boy, now living with Tifa, a black haired martial arts type of fighter, and the legendary Cloud Strife, the only one who was ever able to face off with Sephiroth and live during the incident at Mt. Nibelheim, and later able to kill him in the final battle at the end of FF7.  Marlene isn’t technically orphaned since she used to live with Barret up until the group left Midgar in search for Sephiroth, but seeing as they don’t get to see each other very much at all, she is, in general to say the least, an orphan. So, to help you with some questions you also will have later in the read, I am going to quote the narration back to you.  Here it is, the English version narration that is:

     “The life-stream.  That’s what we call the river of life that circles our planet, giving life to the world and everything in it.  The Shinra Electric Power Company discovered a way to use the life-stream as an energy source.  Because of Shinra’s energy, we were able to live very comfortable lives, but wasn’t that because we were taking away from the planet’s life?  A lot of people thought so.  Shinra used their power to try and stop anybody who got in their way.  Shinra had a special group of warriors called SOLDIER and all of the SOLDIERs had Jenova souls put inside them.  Jenova was a calamity that fell from the sky a long, long time ago, and tried to destroy the planet.  Anyway, there was one SOLDIER named Sephiroth that was better than the rest.  But when he found out about the terrible experiments that made him, he began to hate Shinra, and then, over time, he began to hate everything.  Shinra, and the people against them; Sephiroth, who hated the planet so much, he wanted to make it go away; and the people who tried to stop him.  There were a lot of battles.  For every battle, there was more sadness.  Someone I love went back to the life-stream too.  And then, it came.  The chosen day.  In the end, the planet itself had to make the battle stop for good.  The planet used the life-stream as a weapon, and when it burst out of the earth, all the fighting, all the greed and sadness, everything, was washed away.  Sadness, was the price to see it end.  Its been two years since they told me that.”

     The scene then turns to what now remains of Midgar, Shinra’s greatest city.  after a minute of showing specific areas of the city and flashbacks of the crash of meteor, the ultimate magic, that Sephiroth used on the planet, it goes to an alley where the sick and poor people live.  Within a matter of seconds, Marlene’s Narration continues:

     “But, it looks like, the planet is a lot madder than we thought.  (finally, it goes into the room that Denzil is sleeping in and you get a peak at high forehead which has black/very-dark-purple rough bruises on his head, and the narration finishes up very quickly)  They call it Geo-Stigma.  (Denzil wakes up and looks up at Marlene while feeling his head and saying ‘Well, Marlene, how does it look?’)  Please.  Please don’t take Denzil away.”

                                                                         ~Marlene~    (FF Advent Children)

     Right after Marlene’s narration, the scene switches to Tifa who is currently washing dishes when the phone starts to ring.  she then says out loud to the phone that he is not here at that the moment.  After being annoyed she heads upstairs to answer the phone to find a familiar voice on the other end; and thus the true movie begins.  The picture switches to a wolf by a rusty sword, THE buster sword that belonged to Cloud’s good friend Zack who happened to die before the game, and then to Cloud who is currently in the Outlands right outside of the ruined remains of Midgar. For future reference, the wolf symbolises the watching over cloud of Aerith, a very good friend of his who Sephiroth killed while in an attempt to stop him. The wolf will appear frequently throughout the movie. He receives a message from Tifa saying that Reno called, that he has work for him and asking how he has been. Afterward he starts to heads over to meet Reno at the president’s house.

    Just as Cloud starts over to meet Reno, three white-haired men in leather armor show up and disgrace the memory of Zack by kicking over his sword.  You will learn soon after that this is the infamous Kadaj and his gang.  After talking about Mother, a.k.a. Jenova, who they reference throughout the whole movie, they see cloud, or their brother who simply is anyone else who is infected with Geostigma, and Kadaj sends the other two after him on bikes.  Kadaj’s two allies, Loz and Yazoo, summon shadow beasts just as they engage Cloud.  Combat breaks out as Cloud draws his sword, Tsurungi, which is a 6-piece sword that cloud assembles through the movie for the final battle, and the three, plus the summons, dodge between the terrain as they have hand-to-hand combat. During the battle Kadaj calls Reno, messes with him, and then demands that Rufus, the president of Shinra, knows were mother is and demands to speak with him.  That is also around the time that Cloud is overwhelmed and losses his sword, but instead of the killing blow, Kadaj calls the beasts off and the three retreat back into the Outlands.

For those who wish to see the beginning of this movie i have posted a link of it on Youtube below, enjoy:

                                http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WVW7fjI4jLI&feature=related

Luck prevails, ‘bad’ luck that is :(

     OH MY GOD!!!  The Super Smash Brothers Brawl tournament last Thursday was a blast.  The competition was extremely hard and the games were always one sided, so overall…..IT WAS AWESOME!!!  It was supposed to start at around 2 p.m. on the Thursday of the 23, but seeing as people had classes and the such, we did not actually start until about 2:30 p.m.  I did not know very many people that entered the tournament, but alas, I knew pleanty of the spectators.  The tournament had 4 rounds; two normal rounds, a semi-finals, and then the grand finals.  In all four rounds, there were 3 games played for each match, and the winner was determined by the best out of three wins for each of the 5 1v1 matches.  There were a total of 10 participants in the tournament, each entry being 5 dollars each, and after a few subtractions, the winner ended up winning $25.  The competition was feirce, challenging, and entertaining.  I of course, as luck would dictate for me, lost on the first round of fighting with a straight 2 loss and no wins.   All of the people that knew me laught there a_ses off because they knew how good I was at Super Smash Brothers, but ironically i was eliminated on the spot, let me tell you it was not a good day to have lady luck angry with me.  Even though I was nocked out on the first round, you will be pleased to know that I didn’t fall with out making my opponent brutally work for the win.   Anyways, I joined in on the spectators and watched the rest of the matches until the winner was decided, playing Magic The Gathering, a very complex and strategic card game, while I watched and the tournament ended.  Right as the tournament ended, the president of the club returned with pizza and pop that the other $25 was used on for the competitors and we proceeded to have SSBB normal games going on up until about 4:30 to 5 p.m.  I decided to play more Magic up until about 5:45 p.m. which then i proceeded to take my leave and headed home for the day.  Though I did lose miserably, again due to my life’s cursed bad luck , I had a great time and am going to the next one as well.  The next SSBB tournament will be held on November 11th, again in the vistatech center at schoolcraft in livonia, same place, and i urge any schoolcraft students who are good, or just like to play SSBB to join, and I’ll see you there.  PEACE!!! XD

SSBB Tournament Tomorrow

     There will be a Super Smash Brothers Brawl Tournament Tomorrow held in the VistaTech Activities Room at Schoolcraft and i plan on entering to win.  The entry fee is $5 and first and runner-up are cash prizes based on how many people are joining.  The tournament starts at around 2 p.m. and goes up until there is only one person left standing, basically no set end time.  I’ll give you guys the inside scoop on what went down after the tournament, so wish me luck!!!! XD

Car Headlights Suck!!!

     The worst of all things happened today, i accidentally left my car headlights on and it killed my car battery.  It was so a bunch of sh_t!!!!  I woke up around 6 a.m, got dressed, and watched some TV until i left at just a little past 7:15.  I got to school and went directly to my first classfor a test, spent some time at the VistaTech Center Activities Room and then proceeded to my second and last class for the day.  After my second class i went down to hang with some of my friends like Justin, Dan, and ‘America’ (America sucks and so does he at pool, it is an inside joke).  Iplayed pool for all of 3 games and then went into the back TV room where I joined in on some Halo 3, Soul Calibur 4, Soul Calibur 3, and Call of Duty 4.  After i dropped out of Halo 3, my partner and I had been the winners of 4 straight games until we finally lost on account of me being new to a specific level, Ifound my friend Emallie, yes i spelled that right, and took her ‘get a free breakfast’ slip.  She didn’t like that at all and tackled me while i was still in my chair.  we wrestled around fighting over the 1/2 inch by 1/2 inch piece of paper, falling on the floor and what not, until she finally got it back.  Am i not nice!?   Anyway, she left and i played card games with Dan until i got a call from my stepmother saying i needed to get home to babysit, what a drag.  So i end the game early, grabbed my stuff, and headed out to my car.  Guess what i found?  That’s right, my battery dead and the car wouldn’t even ignite as if to start the car normally.  Wasting about 10 minutes trying to get the car start, i give up and head back into the VistaTech Center.  There, a few of the guys and I went back out, they pulled there cars around and we attempted a jump start.  After sitting there chatting while the battery charged, we finally give it one last attempt.  Failure.  I gave my father a call, and he headed up with the van and my little brother that I was supposed to babysit.  He pulled up next to me, popped the hood on both cars and after a little tinkering with the jumper cables, got the car up and running again.  We dropped the hoods, switch vehicles, and headed home.  After my father gets home again tonight from my brother’s concert, we’re going to run the car again to make sure the problem is fixed.  If it doesn’t happen to run, then i will be without a car for tomorrow.  Man this sucks!!! The car I’m currently driving, at least until mine is registered and we fix the turning signals, is my father’s 1996 Pontiac Sunfire, which is in decent condition since that specific model usually doesn’t live past 2003-2005.

“Ginger Snaps Back” Movie Review

     “Ginger Snaps Back: The Beginning” is the third movie in the Ginger Snaps Trilogy.  It takes place in 1815, far before the original movie and tells the story of the two sister’s, Ginger and Bridget, past selves and how the curse and incident in the Town of Bailey Downs came to be.

     The movie starts off with the two sisters, Ginger and Bridget Fitzgerald, on a horse looking for passage west when they get lost.  They soon stumble upon an Indian village that has been brutally attacked and slaughtered by an unknown source.  They also find an elder there that tells them to “Kill the boy, or one sister kills the others.”  Just when it couldn’t get any creepier, their horse freaks out of nowhere and runs off.

     Chasing the horse, Bridget finds herself caught in a bear trap and Ginger runs back to the Indian village to try and find some help, but soon hears a howling wolf and rushes back to aid Bridget.  While Ginger is off looking for some help, Bridget finds herself face-to-face with a wolf and an Indian hunter.  Ginger sneak attacks the hunter as she returns but the hunter quickly stops her, having his wolf companion ‘keep an eye on her.’  Even though he had been attacked by them, the hunter knows that it was a misunderstanding and helps both the girls and has them follow him to safety at Fort Bailey.

     When they get there, they find it is inhabited by only a few people.  They attend to Bridget’s injury and gives the girls refuge from the wilderness.  Not even a night has passed before they are attacked by monsters, learning that the fort has been under siege for nearly 2 months.  During the night, Ginger gets up to go to the bathroom and follows a crying voice to a deformed boy that attacks and bites her on the shoulder.  She then runs back to Bridget and they attempt to leave the fort but are attacked before they can escape.  Some of the men are eaten alive and killed before they are able to get the main gate to the fort closed again.  In the heat of the attack, the girls run back through the fort.

     Being caught by the reverend, who has hated the two girls since they appeared at the front gates to the fort, he locks the two up in a house with one of the monsters who had apparently broken through one of the sides of the walls of the fort.  Ginger and Bridget quickly run upstairs into a room and locks the door, being followed closely behind by the monster.  Ginger and Bridget starts screaming for help as the animal started to tear through the door but before it could reach the girls, the hunter showed up behind the animal and shot it in the head, through the door, with an arrow.  Escaping the house, Ginger curses the reverend for locking them in there to die.  Needing all of the arms they can use, Wallace, who is in command of the fort, ignores it and sends the two girls to there room to stay safe.

     Ginger then has a dream about what the elder said about killing the boy and wakes up to find her and the bed are both covered in blood coming from her bite mark.  Bridget takes Ginger to see the old man who is responsible for taking care of the injured.  But when they get there, they find Fin, a young boy in his teens, has been bitten and thus is put down by the old man.  Later as Ginger is cleaning herself she finds that Wallace’s son, who was the boy who bit her on the shoulder, is changing into a monster and is still loose in the house and that she is also changing into a monster as well.  She also learns that the monsters that people are changing into are Lycanthropy; werewolves.

     For the next few hours, Ginger continues to change more and more.  She also has a few run-ins with Wallace’s son, who is killing some of the men inside of the fort.  After the last killing by Wallace’s son is found, the men discover a strand of Ginger’s hair, which the deformed boy had taken from her by accident when he bit her, and capture Ginger to find out if she is turning by the reaction a leach has to the blood of a werewolf.  Wallace catches and stops them just in time and tells Ginger that she must leave.  Before the two girls depart, the men find the boy and Wallace himself kills him, sending the girls back out into the wilderness.

     The girls find the Cave of the Hunter and discover there is no cure after you have been bitten except death.  Bridget then goes through a spiritual ritual to find out what will happen with the relationship between her and Ginger.  While she is in the ritual, Ginger kills the elder and escapes from the cave.  Finding out that what Ginger has done, Bridget and the hunter head back to Fort Bailey to wait for Ginger to come back for Bridget, which was foreseen in the ritual.

     The movie ends with Ginger assaulting the fort, killing everyone, including the other werewolves, except for Bridget and the hunter.  The hunter gives Bridget the knife from the vision in the cave to kill Ginger with, but she instead says “Together forever” and stabs the hunter in the chest.  Both Ginger and Bridget escape the fort together.  The last scene shows Ginger infecting Bridget, through blood contact, with Lycanthropy to save her from freezing to death.

     This movie is great because of the combination of  legends and werewolf lore.  It contains a lot of mystery, suspense, and twists in the storyline.  This is, by far, the best movie out of the whole trilogy and it is a must see for anyone who likes thrillers or is a fan of Lycanthropy videos.  I would recommend this to anyone that wants to watch something out of the normal or if your just looking for some fantasy movies.  A phenomenal movie by any standards.

For those who wish to see the beginning of this movie i have posted a link of it on Youtube below, enjoy:

                                http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CHsZ6D2P4DM

blarg!

blargedy blarg blarg!!!!