Month: December 2010

Girls’ Soccer Team Earns First Win of the Season

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soccer
Yesterday, around 2:15, our girls soccer team headed down to the field to warm up for our first game of the season. We were all a little nervous to play against Thacher school, but once the game began, it became obvious that we would be victorious.

We started out with a goal in only the first five minutes of the game, and once that happened, out energy just shot through the roof. The entire game we defended well, and played great offense as a team. Despite the difficulties with the refs, the game went perfect.

We ended out the game with a score of five to zero and celebrated our victory together as a team while still being respectful to Thacher. We all high-fived each other and said “good game” and it was over. For the first game of the season, we far exceeded our own expectations and I can’t wait to see how the rest of our season unfolds, try to make it down to one of the games if you want to see for yourself!

Imagine

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There’s a spot in Central Park under a cherry blossom tree just off the road where carriage drawn horses pass by next to yellow taxi cabs. It’s the place you know where nothing is real, this one section that’s simplistic meaning and powerful emotion flow freely in warm shafts of color in a cold, hard city setting. Looking through bent back tulips, we come across what is known as “Strawberry Fields.” It is a lovely, tiled, circular piece on the ground. Set as the sun, one word graces the center, partially covered by flowers and photographs laid there by thousands of adoring fans; “Imagine.”

imagine

John Winston Lennon, what is there that can’t be already said. The stories you’ve told and lives you’ve touched shall never be paralleled. Whether we’d be picturing ourselves in a boat on a river with tangerine trees and marmalade skies, or being welcomed by an Octopus into his safe and loving garden beneath the waves, there is nobody I’d rather listen to 8 days a week.

You took us on lyrical journeys through Yellow Submarines, to the wings of Black Birds, to the emotion carried in Oh Darling! and Here Comes the Sun. You’ve given me reasons to dance in Twist and Shout and I wanna hold your hand. You’ve given me headaches in Hey Jude.
Your words of wisdom have guided the many who have been fortunate enough to listen to your work. You’ve always reassured us that there will be an answer in our times of trouble and after Hard Days Nights we must remember, “Ob La Di, Ob La Da la la la la life goes on.” The world is lucky to have known you, and twice as lucky to remember you.

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I hope that there is a place for you to sing again. A place where you can preach your message of peace and love among all mankind, where you can tell the world that the Beatles are “bigger than Jesus,” and that you can supply Shea Stadiums biggest attendance figures, upstaging the New York Mets. Come to think of it, there is a place like that. Across the Universe, you are revered, celebrated, and your music will always be listened to rather than just heard. The message that we should all Come Together and Give Peace a Chance, is one that will never go away, all thanks to you. A symbol of love and friendship, a singer of song, a general in the British Invasion, and a true icon. So long John.

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“You may say I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one, I hope someday you’ll join us, and the world will live as one.”
-John Winston Lennon

Julian Assange

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One of the world’s most controversial people, Julian Assange, was arrested on tuesday in London on sexual abuse charges. Julian Assange is the founder of Wikileaks. Wikileaks is the website where anonymous sources can post information that has to do with confidential American intelligence. The posting of this information has started heated debates about whether or not it is okay to post information like this on a public website.  One side argues that it will compromise America’s security,  and the other argues that it is freedom of speech.

Now that Julian Assange has been arrested, it has sparked a huge war between Assange’s followers, and his prosecutors. Some of his lawyers’ bank accounts have been hacked, draining their accounts.  The hackers have done this to protest the arrest, and emphasize freedom of speech.

Keys to a Soccer Team

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Although there are some great Champions League games on today, I want to talk about something else. Football (or soccer to some of you) is a great sport. It is fun and enjoyable for me and may others to play. It teaches teamwork, perseverance and many other skills. But to have a good soccer team there are somethings that a team needs.

1. Coach-Although there are good teams with bad coaches, a coach/manager can make a team great. They control who plays and who doesn’t. they control how the team is run and how the team trains. In most teams they are the head and they control everything under them. A bad coach can ruin a team. They can ruin moral, ruin chemistry and not play the right people at the right time. they may not even run practices correctly which can also damage a team. The first step to building a great team is having a great coach.

2. Players-Although having players with motivation and character is important, what a team really needs is players with talent. You cannot compete with a team that has 10 times the amount of talent you have, trust me I have tried. A team with no talent is not a team, it is a group of people looking to have fun. To be competitive you must have players who are invested in winning, can take advice and build with it, and strive to win. Without that a soccer team will fail.

3. Support-This can come from many places but every team needs it. At a school it would come from students and faculty with help from the athletic department. At a professional team it would come from having a large fan base with support from the people with the check book. In today’s world of soccer, you have to invest a lot of time and money if you want to be succesful. If you are not interested in that, get of the field.

Jimmy Reed

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The blues world has had a great number of musicians, BB King, Muddy Waters, Little Walter. But one of the best, most underrated musicians is Jimmy Reed.  Jimmy Reed was the amazing, blues singer of the late fifties and sixtes. Some of his hit songs include “Ain’t that Lovin’ you Baby,” “Down in Virgina” and “Bright Lights, Big City.”

He was known not only for  his guitar playing and lazy singing, but also for his rampant alcoholism.  He would show up so drunk to his album recordings, that his wife would have to help him remember the lyrics. In one of his recordings, he even stops the song, talks about something else, then keeps it going again because he is so drunk. This later led to a case of epilepsy.

But no matter what his personal life was like, he will always be remembered as a pioneer for blues.

 

Tumbling

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I have a new addiction. You see, here at the Ojai Valley School we can’t access youtube.com and many other partially essential websites for teenagers due to “sonic wall” blocking for random reasons. Photography, writing, self-expression has always been an interest, and I finally found a way to curb my cravings here.

Tumblr

Some people call it tumbling, some call it self-expression, but Tumblr is the new MySpace.

It may not include things such as a “profile revealing personal information,” but if desired users can make that information accessible. The gist of it is posting anything you want, and having people who subscribe to you, and even guests, see your work or what you have “reblogged” from other users. I can say that I’ve found the most inspiring and entertaining things through tumbling. It’s awe-inspiring entertainment those who have an eye for art or a good sense of humor.

Go make an account now.

Daft Punk

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I can hardly believe I’ve gone this long without a Daft Punk post. Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo are not just legends of electro house, but icons of a musical generation.

While attending a French university, Bangalter and Manuel started a band with Laurent Brancowitz called Darlin’. The members themselves now admit the project was not their best work. A negative review by Melody Maker magazine claimed it was “a bunch of daft punk”. The trio had the last laugh however, as Brancowitz went on to form Phoenix and dominate electropop while the others donned robot helmets and made history.

Daft Punk rose to fame with the single Da Funk off of their debut album, Homework. The single entailed a music video by Spike Jonze for MTV. Shortly after, the duo signed to Virgin records and hired Pedro Winter as their manager. Eight years later, Busy P created the powerhouse French record label, Ed Banger. Daft Punk truly has the Midas touch.

Five studio albums later, the group is now producing the soundtrack to the upcoming Tron Legacy for Disney, which I can assume is the heftiest paycheck the duo has received in a while. That said, I’m sure they enjoyed the challenge of producing a movie score instead of a new album (See: SebastiAN’s OST for Notre Jour Viendre).

Daft Punk are legends of the French house scene. They headline and sell out every stadium they play. In fact, It has become somewhat of a rite of passage for DJs to remix a Daft Punk song with justice to the original (See also: SebastiAN’s Human After All remix).

Cultural context can transform your perception of music. Hopefully the next time you see Daft Punk, you think Daft punk, and not those guys with the robot helmets who made “One more time.”

MICHAEL

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This Is It… For the children of the 60’s all the way through to the 21st century it was hard to learn that their idol, role model, and King had finally sang his last song and passed away. But we all know that Michael Jackson’s music will live on throughout history for years and years.

King of Pop

Even after Jackson’s death his fans will be running to every store across the nation and around the world to buy his newest album. The  record entitled Michael contains 10 of the hundreds of songs that Jackson produced just a few years before his death. It is scheduled to make its debut on the 14th of this month and who knows how long it will be before every last copy is bought and the shelves of every department store, record store, and online store are empty.

M. Jackson

So, this is really it. One last walk on the moon after 51 years of musical excellence. Will we ever forget the man who put the “pop” into Pop Music? Probably not. His music will live on forever, continuously influencing todays artists.

In Loving Memory

Little Michael

Michael Joseph Jackson

(Aug. 29, 1958-June 25, 2009)

Snowflakes in Southern California

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You may have already heard from my fellow blog-mates, but it is time once again for Secret Snowflakes to take OVS by the reins and kick off!

Each person in our school drew a name out of a paper bag and then had to go out and buy not one but five gifts for them, one for each day of the school week.

The presents usually start small and get gradually bigger, each coming with a clue (ex. I have blue eyes, I’m not a day student, etc.) to help the gift receiver guess who is giving them presents.

It is unfortunate, however, that some people do not feel up for the holiday cheer. Some people either give bad presents (like used airplane headphones) or no presents at all.

The people who do this tend to ruin the spirit of the rest of the school, and it makes the week before final exams all that more stressful.

I can only hope that this year everyone will receive and give presents, and no one will be left with a frown on their face.

Ocean Acidification

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nullThe greenhouse gas: CO2 not only influences our climate but also affects our ocean ecosystem. Each year, billions of carbon emissions from fossil fuels are absorbed by the ocean, and this will gradually turn the water into more acidic. This will greatly affect the calcium-based species, such as crabs and shrimps, which are the primary food sources for many marine animals. “We are seeing an overall negative impact from ocean acidification directly on organisms and on some key ecosystems that help provide food for billions,” said Carol Turley, a senior scientist at Britain’s Ocean Acidification Research Program. Many people have thought that the greenhouse gas we produced will only influence species on the ground and in the air; however, they are wrong. The evidence shows that those gases will affect the entire planet.