My editor can’t count. Much love. I have to do another blog now, but it’s fine. Honestly, I can’t count either, so no hate. Anyway, how did any of those famous mathematicians find love in numbers? Every time I enter math, my brain starts to disintegrate. Love Mr. Obrien, but math actually makes me go crazy. He tried to show us a diamond method to try and factor an equation, and I don’t think I’ve ever been more confused in my life, respectfully. Then, Mrs. Reyes showed us the box method, and it immediately made way more sense. So, sorry, not sorry. Right now, we’re learning about going from vertex form to standard form, then to intercept form, then back to standard form, then back to vertex form. Genuinely not to be rude or anything, but how is this going to help me do anything important in life? When am I going to need to know the vertex of my right knee in order to become a lawyer or psychologist? Ugh idk. Bye.
Lately, I feel like I have been losing motivation for almost everything. Even just getting up out of my bed and getting a glass of water. I don’t know if it’s because winter is creeping up, or if it’s because I work myself out of energy. But I think about when I was little and how much more energy I had. Clearly, kids have a lot of energy, but it feels different now that I’m older. I miss being a kid so much, but growing up has just been dreadful lately. I remember when school used to be fun. It would just be a place where I would see my friends. But now the only thing that motivates me to get out of bed in the morning is if I have a free block that day. I usually don’t, but sometimes I wait until the last minute to do my homework or anything else I need to do before bed. I’ll be lying down on my phone, and when the clock hits 9, I say 5 more minutes. Next thing I know, it’s 11. Hopefully, I will get my motivation to do things back soon.
When I began high school I was no longer eligible for the Scholastic program, but I knew I wanted to continue to pursue journalism. Although freshmen were not typically allowed to apply for the school newspaper editor position, my junior high English teacher put in a special word and they made an exception. I was elected, and again the following year.
Last summer I applied for, was accepted to and attended the New York Times Summer Academy, which was an amazing experience.
I’m (obviously) taking journalism at OVS now and have had the chance to publish a couple articles in the OVN. This coming summer, I will be taking a course titled Storytelling for Social Change, which I imagine I can tie back to journalism. And for my senior capstone project next year, I’m hoping to create a Humans of New York-esque video or book in which I interview strangers.
Last night I found an old video on a cheap little camera of mine. I’m in Joshua Tree on a camping trip, approaching my fifth-grade classmates and interviewing them each in turn. “What’s your name?” I ask. “What do you like doing – what are your hobbies?” Looking back, I realize I’ve always been a reporter.
My first real interview was with Jane Goodall some four years earlier when she came and visited my school in Bali. A few of the best students in the second-grade class, myself included, were selected to ask her questions about her conservation work.
In the sixth grade, I applied for a Scholastic Kids Reporter program after spotting an ad in a magazine. Once accepted, I began covering all kinds of stories and interviewing all kinds of people. Among those I spoke to (or listened to in press conferences) were screenwriters the Russo brothers, actor and writer Chris Colfer, director Rob Marshall, Oscar-winning costume designer Ruth E. Carter, America’s Got Talent winner Darci Lynn Farmer, JoJo Siwa (no explanation needed), Congressional Representative Julia Brownley, and the casts of Captain Marvel, Avengers Endgame, Mary Poppins, Coco, and Young Sheldon. I even got to see Zendaya and John Cena in the flesh. Scholastic was quite possibly one of the highlights of my life.
The other day I saw a video documenting a woman’s year restoring an abandoned smallholding in eastern Spain all alone. She left her husband in the city to live simply in the countryside. The 4-acre property and the house had no furniture, running water, tools, or heating. And this woman, from scratch, completely transformed it into a full-fledged smallholding. Anyway, the whole video is watching this process: thrifting the furniture & decor, painting the walls, landscaping a whole garden, and doing some handiwork. She meets a whole new community of people like her and builds a big tipi outside for guests and visitors to stay.
What an incredible difference she made in just one year, and to think she went out there on her own, knowing so little, and gained all the skills she needed. She absolutely deserves all the fruits of her labor.
Now she spends her days hanging out with stray cats, gardening, building things all on her own, and raising animals, instead of working 9-5 just to get by. The energy is so positive I can’t help but think this is the way we’re meant to live: healthy, happy, eating the best food, and loving life.
I watched a new movie this week that by any standards is brilliant and moving. And in my opinion, one of the most underrated films.
“Cry, the Beloved Country” is based on a heartwrenching book that deals with really complex topics in such a unique way. I can’t even remotely relate to the characters yet I still suffered with them. This movie deals with issues of segregation and protests against apartheid in such a beautiful and moving way, combined with topics of fear, corruption, death, and forgiveness.
James Earl Jones was incredible. He manages to convey and make you feel so many things through really minimalistic acting. He doesn’t waste himself on meaningless gestures & histrionics, he lets you see the suffering of his soul.
The movie does a great job illustrating the battered country of Africa– where the land itself is described to be the essence of a man– as he navigates through Johannesburg and experiences all its corruption and violence. Many of the political, economic, and societal issues within Southern Africa in the 1950s are brought to light in this film,
This is a movie about black and white. A well-known theme in Hollywood, but I’ve never seen a movie deal with this subject so excellent as this one. The plot is unlike anything I’ve ever read or seen before. Alan Paton, the author of the book it’s based on, is one talented man.
The best reality documentary on youtube is a Vice series titled “North Korean Labor Camps” where they sent a Canadian Journalist, Shane Smith, to investigate the hermit kingdom and bring back cultural learnings with him.
It has everything: politics, humor, wit, fear, camaraderie with absolutely random people, realities of everyday life of common people, getting banned and kicked out, and going into the endless unknown (Siberian Tiga) like a spaceship.
It’s in a blog, video diary format with a pretty bad camera (it was 10 years ago), and it’s just so cool. All seven parts of the series are just insane. He gets in trouble with the FSB, there’s a car chase in the wilds of Siberia, and he befriends the local mob. My favorite part though is all the random people that just helped and tagged along: a cop, ex-chief of police, freelance journalist, and some crazy Russian guy who saved the journalist from angry authorities.
It all started in North Korea, with a video titled “We Tried Sneaking Journalists into North Korea.” In it, you see how unsettling and just off North Korea feels, at least 10 years ago. Anyway, soon he finds out that Koreans are being sent to logging camps for like several years at a time in Eastern Russia and so begins the aforementioned series. I want to do something like this one day.
Besides what he manages to uncover, what’s most shocking is how calm the journalist was despite the tense circumstances. From intimidating drunk guys on trains to North Korean camp leaders telling him no, he just kept his cool and kept asking questions. That’s a Journalist!
I read and watched “All the President’s Men” this summer. The movie did away with a lot of the excess detail I felt the book was packed with, so I recommend it a little more. They’re about the infamous Watergate Scandal, and how these two reporters (Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein) induced the first Presidential Resignation in U.S. history. This all happened after they investigated and reported on this conspiracy that was heavily covered up. The scandal was essentially before Richard Nixon’s re-election, his administration broke into the opposing party’s headquarters trying to find dirt on them. This is very bad and illegal so the stakes/tensions were high.
I think investigative journalism, which is fading today, is pretty interesting. It shows how hard journalism can be: persistent phone calls, traveling, waiting hours for minute-long, sometimes fruitless, discussions. Everything the reporters chose to publish was risky too, their reputations and jobs at The Washington Post were at stake. I don’t know how the portrayal of Woodward’s and Bernstein’s journey compares to actual journalism but I still was really impressed.
The Washington Wizards are sending point guard Spencer Dinwiddie and forward Davis Bertans to the Dallas Mavericks in exchange for a future second-round draft pick and forward Kristaps Porzingis. The Wizards are adding another big in Porzingis, which I don’t get they have Kuzma, Gafford, Hachimura, Bryant, and now Porzingis. I guess they might try and mirror the Cavs who had a boatload of bigs/forwards. Dallas adds a veteran guard who will probably come off the bench and add a stretch-big both will play big roles for Dallas in the latter half of the season.
Washington gets a C for this deal while Dallas gets a B-
pc: clutchpoints.com
Harden heads to Philly:
The Brooklyn Nets are sending James Harden and Paul Millsap to Philly, the 76ers are sending Seth Curry, Andre Drummond, two first-round picks, and Ben Simmons. This is a win-win trade for both teams. the 76ers add a second superstar next to their all-star center Joel Embiid; while New York adds rim protection with Drummond, 3-point shooting with Seth, future assets, and a young all-star point guard/power forward in Ben Simmons. Both teams are in win-now mode and this trade keeps them both in this focus.
Philly gets an A and Brooklyn gets an A as well, in my opinion.
My last blog post was basically a mess of me trying to explain what Tokyo Ghoul is fundamentally whilst also trying to gush about the genius of part one. However, now that basically every piece of context has been laid out I can now gush about one of my favorite sections of Tokyo Ghoul, part 2. Originally, I had seen the anime before I had read the manga. In the anime, Kaneki joins Aogiri Tree, completely letting go of who he is as a person and becoming a cold-blooded killer so that he can become strong enough to protect the ones he loves. Although it does work into the story either way it is so far from what happens in the manga it’s comical.
What I forgot to explain in the first part is that the CCG rates ghouls based on their level of danger. If a ghoul is a rate A it means they’re generally pretty dangerous but not hardened killers. Some ghouls can go all the way up to SSS rating which means they have quite the body count when it comes to investigators.
Kaneki forms his own minor organization with the single goal of finding Dr. Kano, a ghoul researcher/doctor who planted Rize’s kahuo in Kaneki. Kaneki remains kind and fragile as he was in season one, but he now has the power necessary to get what he wants and he’s finally willing to use it. However, Kaneki still somewhat refuses to eat. Instead, he cannibalizes other ghouls, which greatly increases his already insane power. However, what Kaneki does not know is that if ghouls cannibalize, they become Kakuja which if translated means “awakened person”. Kakuja are immensely powerful ghouls who have multiple Kahuos, allowing them to control multiple Kagune at a time. However, should a ghoul awaken, they lose control, and only a very select few ghouls can maintain control when awakened.
About halfway through part one, the CCG ghoul prison known as cochlea is broken into and many high-ranking ghouls are released, putting the CCG in a very tough spot. Kaneki who was at Cochlea for reasons I can’t remember is confronted by an especially strong ghoul who was very close to Rize and is now set on killing him as he bears Rize’s scent. Being one of the strongest non-kakuja ghouls, this ghoul wipes the floor with Kaneki. Lying in the puddle of his own blood, Kaneki’s loss drives him to awaken. Unable to control his Kakuja powers, he mortally injures an investigator and barely escapes with his life. Kaneki, now being a Kakuja is a ticking time bomb. He still isn’t eating well and mostly eats ghouls as he knows it makes him stronger.
Photo Credit: Reddit
What makes the second part of Tokyo Ghoul so special to me is how much backstory and lore they give to characters that received very little attention in the anime. This happens all throughout the show as basically half the content that made the manga so special was surgically removed. Sui Ishida gives many side characters compelling and emotional backstories throughout part two which adds an immense amount of depth to the Tokyo Ghoul world, which I will definitely be getting into in another post.
Throughout the first half, one of the main roadblocks for the CCG is a ghoul known as the owl, who is responsible for the conception of Aogiri Tree. The owl is actually two ghouls, a father and his daughter who are both kakujas. Despite looking and fighting completely differently the owls are one of the biggest threats to the CCG. Mr. Yoshimura, the man who took in Kaneki is the owl, the founder of Aogiri tree, and one of the most feared ghouls in Tokyo.
Photo Credit: Tumblr
The CCG launches an operation into the 20th ward which is the worst possible situation for Kaneki as every ghoul he was training to protect was in the 20th ward. In a hurry, Kaneki goes to the 20th ward where he faces Special Investigator Kisho Arima. An extraordinary investigator who has a flawless record in the CCG and is the only investigator to have mortally injured the owl which he did when he was sixteen.
In one of the coolest scenes ever, Kaneki confronts Arima underground in a bed of Red Spider Lilies. Kaneki loses epically. He doesn’t even land a single hit on Arima and gets a quinque through the eye. Although Kaneki has an absurd amount of power, not even he can stand up to Arima. At this point, everyone believes Arima is the main villain, and in typical Tokyo Ghoul fashion, the first part ends, and seemingly so does the story of Ken Kaneki
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